10+ things to know in #MiamiTech: Black Ambition’s new program for Florida founders, how to pitch to Dubai, plus news from Mission Space, Infinite Reality, FAU, Lazo, 1909 & more
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Pharrell Williams’ Black Ambition launches $1M digital learning lab to support 500 Florida founders
In a bold move to close the equity gap in entrepreneurship, Black Ambition, the national initiative founded by Pharrell Williams, is launching a high-impact, 10-week virtual program to fuel the growth of entrepreneurs across Florida. Backed by a $1 million investment from an anonymous donor, the Fundable Founders Learning Lab is part of a two-year statewide initiative to support 500 Florida-based entrepreneurs with access to capital, mentorship, expert training, and a powerful network, at a time when many support systems for small business owners are disappearing.
The program is open to all entrepreneurs, with a strong emphasis on ensuring founders from underrepresented communities are equipped to build fundable, sustainable ventures. Florida is home to over 1.38 million minority-owned businesses, yet the path to capital and scale remains steep. The Fundable Founders Learning Lab aims to change that narrative by providing tactical training, national exposure, and an on-ramp to the kind of support that turns bold ideas into breakthrough businesses. “Entrepreneurs are facing unprecedented challenges — from shrinking access to capital, uncertain supply chain logistics to dwindling community resources,” says Felecia Hatcher, CEO of Black Ambition. “This $1 million donation is more than just funding — it’s fuel for a new generation of fundable founders building bold, innovative solutions right here in Florida.”
The program will launch this spring and will offer 10 weeks of expert-led virtual sessions on marketing, capital strategy, partnerships, customer development, and more. The program is fully virtual, free to accepted Florida-based founders, and open to all entrepreneurs looking to build, grow, and scale. Apply here by April 30.
The deadline is also fast approaching to enter the organization’s $1 million Black Ambition Prize Competition. Apply here by May 2.
Since its launch, Black Ambition has awarded nearly $13 million in growth capital to 131 entrepreneurs, helped its network raise over $280 million in follow-on capital, and supported more than 1,000 founders across the country. In Florida alone, 15 entrepreneurs have already been funded.
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Want to pitch to Dubai without leaving Miami? Deadline to apply is April 24
A special global edition of the #MiamiTech Happy Hour, called the Dubai Tech Experience, will include leaders from the Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy, and GITEX Global, which is the team behind the world’s largest tech and startup events. Whether you’re a founder looking to scale globally or a curious investor, this is your chance to plug into global deal flow and connect with the people shaping the future, from Miami to the UAE.
In addition to a fireside chat, the event will feature a pitch competition. The winner will receive a fully paid trip + booth at GITEX Global / Expand North Star 2025, with 200,000 expected attendees, as well as warm VC intros, potential global press and a spotlight on the world’s biggest tech stage. Apply to pitch by April 24.
Interested in attending the May 5 happy hour? RSVP here
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Mission Space and Star Catcher partner to advance space weather monitoring and power delivery
Miami-based Mission Space and Star Catcher Industries of Jacksonville have announced a strategic partnership to advance real-time space weather monitoring and orbital power solutions. The companies said the collaboration combines Mission Space’s proprietary space weather forecasting technologies with Star Catcher’s innovative Star Catcher Network, an orbital power grid designed to enhance satellite performance by eliminating power constraints. Under this agreement, Mission Space will provide real-time space weather data and predictive models to support the Star Catcher Network, which in turn will deliver additional power to Mission Space’s satellites. The collaboration aims to boost both performance and resilience in orbit.
At the core of Mission Space’s forecasting capabilities is Zohar, the company’s next-generation space weather payload. Zohar is equipped with advanced spectrometers and Cherenkov detectors that capture high-energy particles in real time, enabling multi-point monitoring of the space radiation environment. This data feeds into Mission Space’s forecasting platform, improving accuracy and situational awareness across low Earth orbit. The Star Catcher Network provides a first-of-its-kind space-to-space power beaming service. By transmitting concentrated solar energy to clients’ existing onboard solar arrays, with no retrofit required, it allows satellite operators to generate up to five to ten times more power, enabling energy-intensive operations like advanced data processing, extended mission durations, and more capable payloads.
“This partnership ensures our constellation will not only perform better but also remain resilient under the most challenging conditions. Star Catcher’s innovative power solutions complement our mission to provide real-time, actionable weather insights,” said Mary Glazkova, who was named CEO of Mission Space this month.
READ MORE IN REFRESH: From Miami to Mars, Mission Space is safeguarding life on Earth and beyond
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Infinite Reality acquires Touchcast for $500M
Infinite Reality, a Boca Raton-based tech company for digital media and ecommerce, acquired Touchcast, a NYC-based agentic AI company, for $500 million. The transaction agreement valued the company at $15.5 billion.
The integration of Touchcast’s technology across Infinite Reality’s portfolio of products and services will enable iR customers to tap AI agents for a number of tasks that drive user engagement, customer support, and sales. The deal follows Infinite Reality’s acquisiton of Napster, announced in March.
Founded by CEO John Acunto, Infinite Reality aims to enable the next generation of digital media and e-commerce through spatial computing, AI, and other immersive technologies. Its suite of software, production, marketing services, and other capabilities empower brands and creators to craft inventive digital experiences that uplevel audience engagement, data ownership, monetization, and brand health metrics.
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FAU researchers develop AI-powered sign language translator with 98% accuracy
For millions of deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals around the world, communication barriers can make everyday interactions challenging. American Sign Language (ASL) is one of the most widely used sign languages, consisting of distinct hand gestures that represent letters, words and phrases. Existing ASL recognition systems often struggle with real-time performance, accuracy and robustness across diverse environments. A major challenge in ASL systems lies in distinguishing visually similar gestures such as “A” and “T” or “M” and “N,” which often leads to misclassifications. Additionally, the dataset quality presents significant obstacles, including poor image resolution, motion blur, inconsistent lighting, and variations in hand sizes, skin tones and backgrounds. These factors introduce bias and reduce the model’s ability to generalize across different users and environments.
To tackle these challenges, researchers from the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Florida Atlantic University have developed an innovative real-time ASL interpretation system. Combining the object detection power of YOLOv11 with MediaPipe’s precise hand tracking, the system can accurately recognize ASL alphabet letters in real time. Using advanced deep learning and key hand point tracking, it translates ASL gestures into text, enabling users to interactively spell names, locations and more with remarkable accuracy. Results of a study, published in the journal Sensors, found the system to be 98.2% accurate. Read more in FAU News.
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Lazo wins $1M investment in pitch competition
Out of a field of over 1,100 startups, Juan Manuel Berrara, founder of Lazo, won a $1 million investment from New York venture capital firm AlleyCorp for his startup. He pitched at Google’s NY headquarters for the prize.
“As an all-in-one tech platform for founders, helping them manage their bookkeeping, tax, finance, legal and fundraising in an intuitive and cost-effective way, Juan has proven he and his team understand the founder journey and road to success better than anyone,” AlleyCorp posted on LinkedIn.
Lazo is backed by global partners including Google for Startups, Amazon Web Services (AWS), EY, Endeavor, and Tampa Bay Wave, and “is already making a difference in the ways startups can scale with confidence,” the post said.
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1909’s new headquarters opens in downtown West Palm Beach
Coworking space and business incubator 1909 has more than doubled its office space with a new headquarters in downtown West Palm Beach, the South Florida Business Journal reported.
The nonprofit opened its 9,000-square-foot headquarters in late March, more than a year after signing a lease at the historic Comeau Building at 319 Clematis Street. The space includes 15 private offices, three conference rooms, multiple kitchens, game rooms and a 24/7 gym for members.
1909 connects its 240 members with subsidized workspaces, mentorship opportunities, accelerator programs, community workshops and more. Memberships begin at $199 a month, and the organization is also offering scholarships to entrepreneurs. Read more here.
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More news to note
- Pinnacle Live, an event technology company based in Chicago, has announced its expansion into the South Florida market through new partnerships with three prominent hotels: JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa, Omni Fort Lauderdale Hotel, and Pier Sixty-Six in Fort Lauderdale. The expansion marks the company’s growth strategy to increase its national presence through these kinds of partnerships. Founded in 2021 and with a presence in more than 200 venues nationwide, Pinnacle Live works closely with venue partners to deliver customized solutions for each event’s specific needs.
- Blue Frontier, a pioneer in sustainable air conditioning technology, was named one of America’s Top GreenTech Companies of 2025 by TIME Magazine and Statista, forr the second year in a row. Blue Frontier pioneered an innovative smart air conditioning system that operates with ultra-high efficiency. By adjusting the concentration of a salt solution, they achieve cooling with minimal energy consumption. This breakthrough enables the air conditioner to utilize less than half the electricity conventional systems require. Moreover, Blue Frontier’s A/C can operate without drawing electricity during its functioning, allowing it to shift energy consumption to non-peak periods—when electricity costs are lower and predominantly sourced from renewable energy. Read more here.
- Borderless, a Web3 investment management firm, announced the appointment of Andrew Dempsey as Partner and Head of Capital Formation to lead the firm’s institutional strategy. In this role, he will bridge traditional capital with the next wave of blockchain innovation, further strengthening Borderless’s institutional-grade investment offering as digital asset markets continue to mature.
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Jobs, jobs, jobs
Boats Group – CRM & Automation Lifecycle Manager
Capsule – Head of Customer Success
CodePath – Staff Software Engineer
Doorloop – Lead AI Engineer
Insightec – Director of Product Marketing
Kandji – Director of Engineering
Kandji – Staff Security Engineer
Levan | NSU Center of Innovation – Chief Innovation Officer
Reco – Sales Engineer
Reeco – Customer Onboarding Manager
Vultr – Privacy Risk Analyst
Zappy – Marketing Director
Zappy – Software Developer Engineer
See many more on Refresh Miami’s job board here
10-PLUS
Opportunity knocks
- Seaworthy Collective, a Miami-based non-profit BlueTech (ocean innovation) entrepreneur support organization and community, has opened applications for Cohort 6 of its updated flagship Startup Program, The Continuum Ocean Enterprise Studio and Incubator. This year, the Studio and Incubator will exclusively support US-based startups developing ocean data technologies and services, in alignment with the priorities of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ocean Enterprise Initiative. The Continuum partners include Braid Theory, Ocean Exchange, Seaworthy Collective, St. Pete Innovation District, Tampa Bay Wave, World Ocean Council, and the University of South Florida. Learn more and apply here by June 26.
- SPARC South Florida (Startup Pitch Accelerator Regional Competition) is accepting applications to compete for $1 million in prizes in the Startup World Cup Global Pitch Competition and receive broad exposure for your startup and access to coaching and mentorship. Apply by May 18 here.
- Endeavor Miami is accepting applications for its next ScaleUp Program. Apply for the ScaleUp program here. Endeavor Miami is also taking applications for two of its upcoming 2025 EndeavorLab programs for earlier state startups. Apply here by May 9h for the EndeavorLab Black Founders cohort and apply here by August 22 for the EndeavorLab Women Founders cohort.
- Miami founders, are you ready to take your startup to the next level? Reefside Ventures is launching its Spring 2025 Incubator program designed specifically for post-product companies based in South Florida. Learn more and apply here.
- The Veterans Florida Entrepreneurship Program’s Facilitated Growth Cohort at Florida International University offers training to help you grow and expand your business. You are not required to have any employees but should have a business generating revenue. You will create a Business Model Canvas with mentorship and will determine if your business is validated/marketable and if it is scalable/expandable. Find out more and apply here.
- Black Ambition is accepting applications for its 2025 Black Ambition Prize Competition with a $1 million grand prize and other prizes and services awarded. The call for entries is for startups in consumer products and services, healthcare, media and entertainment, technology and AI. Find out more and apply here by May 2.
- The Cade Prize for Inventivity, named after Dr. Robert Cade, lead inventor behind Gatorade, celebrates inventors and entrepreneurs, who, through an innovative invention, demonstrate a creative approach to addressing problems in their field of expertise. Each year, Cade Prize winners receive over $100,000 in cash prizes and legal services with no strings attached. Find out more and apply here by July 10.
- Are you a pre-Series A startup founder looking to make your mark on a global stage for a $100,000 equity-free priae? Applications for TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 200 are now open. Go to the Startup Battlefield 200 page to learn more and apply by June 9.
ICYMI
· Latest funding news: Exowatt secures $70M Series A to solve a big AI problem: power
· Reco raises $25M to close the SaaS security gap
· Pillar Security raises $9M to create AI security guardrails for enterprises
· Lights, camera, action: Capsule announces $12M Series A to grow AI-powered video creation platform
· Vee, a startup using AI for good, chooses Miami for its HQ
· CodePath expands at FIU with a new for-credit curriculum and more. What’s ahead?
Have news to report? Email Nancy Dahlberg at [email protected] and follow her on X @ndahlberg. Subscribe to Refresh Miami’s free weekly newsletter here featuring startup news, tech job opportunities and events. Thank you for supporting Refresh Miami.
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