By Brian French | MiamiBusinessNews.com | September 9, 2026
Quick Answer
South Florida is home to roughly 30 active venture capital firms, concentrated in four Miami neighborhoods (Brickell, Wynwood, Coconut Grove and Miami Beach) plus Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton and West Palm Beach. Together the Miami-Dade-to-Palm-Beach corridor drew $4.13 billion in venture funding across 376 deals in 2025, about 71% of Florida’s total. The local firms most likely to lead a round are Fuel Venture Capital (seed to Series A, fintech and consumer), TheVentureCity (pre-seed, Latin America), Las Olas Venture Capital (seed, B2B software) and the newly merged Miami Angels–New World Angels platform (first institutional checks). Growth capital comes mainly from H.I.G. Capital, Thoma Bravo, General Atlantic and Palm Beach County’s private-equity shops.
The Map Matters in Miami
Unlike Tampa or Orlando, where venture activity clusters in one downtown, South Florida’s investors are spread along 70 miles of coastline, and where a firm sits tells you something about what it funds. Brickell is where fintech, crypto and institutional money live. Wynwood is home to the Silicon Valley transplants and the studio models. Coconut Grove hosts the region’s largest homegrown fund. Fort Lauderdale is the B2B software address. Boca Raton and West Palm Beach are angel and private-equity territory. Founders who pitch the wrong neighborhood waste weeks.
South Florida VC by the Numbers
| Indicator | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Venture dollars raised | $4.13B | +49% |
| Deals closed | 376 | flat |
| Share of Florida total | 71% | — |
| AI-focused funding (Miami metro) | $1.23B | +37% |
| National rank, deal value | #9 | — |
| Q1 2026 (revised) | $1.1B / 111 deals | — |
| Q2 2026 | $832M | — |
Source: eMerge Insights 2025 Florida Venture Capital Report; PitchBook Q2 2026 Venture Monitor as reported by Refresh Miami. Three medtech megarounds (OpenEvidence, eMed, ILiAD Biotechnologies) accounted for $565 million of the Q1 2026 total.
Brickell: Fintech, Crypto and Institutional Capital
Borderless Capital
Miami’s flagship Web3 investor manages more than $500 million and runs a dedicated $100 million fund for decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN). It backs blockchain protocols, infrastructure and fintech applications from pre-seed through Series A, with checks from $100,000 to $5 million, and invests across more than 30 countries. Borderless is the reason Miami’s “crypto capital” branding survived the 2022 downturn with real deal flow behind it: blockchain startups in the metro raised $243 million in the first half of 2025 alone.
H.I.G. Capital and H.I.G. BioVentures
H.I.G. is the largest asset manager headquartered in Miami, with about $74 billion in equity capital across private equity, credit, real estate and growth. Its BioVentures arm is the region’s most institutional life-sciences investor and the natural next call for any South Florida medtech or biotech company that has outgrown angel money.
1450 Brickell Ave., 31st Floor, Miami, FL 33131 · (305) 379-2322
Thoma Bravo (Miami office)
The software-focused private equity giant maintains a Brickell office at 830 Brickell Plaza. It does not write venture checks, but it is the most active software buyer in the region and a frequent exit partner for cybersecurity and enterprise-software companies.
Alpha Wave Global and Blue Cloud Ventures
Both are late-stage investors that participate in large growth rounds for software and financial-services companies rather than leading seed deals. They matter to founders raising Series C and beyond, and to anyone tracking where South Florida’s biggest rounds get syndicated.
Wynwood: Transplants, Studios and Deep Tech
Founders Fund and Thiel Capital
Peter Thiel’s firm opened its Wynwood office in 2021 and, unlike Andreessen Horowitz (which closed its Miami Beach outpost in 2023), never left. Thiel Capital added a second Wynwood office in December 2025. Founders Fund invests at every stage across defense, deep tech, enterprise and consumer, and its portfolio companies have become a talent pipeline for the local ecosystem. It does not publish a street address or phone line.
Atomic
Atomic is a venture studio, not a fund: it generates ideas internally, validates them, then recruits a CEO to run the company it has already built. It relocated from San Francisco, raised a $320 million fourth fund in 2023, and counts Hims & Hers, OpenStore, Bungalow and Found among its creations. Founders who want a co-founder with a checkbook, rather than an investor, are its target.
Boldstart Ventures
Boldstart writes “inception” checks, meaning day one, before a product exists, to technical founders building developer tools, AI infrastructure and security software. It moved its headquarters to Miami and operates from both Miami and New York. Expect the fastest decisions and the earliest entry point of any institutional investor on this list.
TheVentureCity
Founded in 2017 by former Facebook executive Laura González-Estéfani, TheVentureCity is Miami’s most globally oriented early-stage fund, with offices in Madrid and São Paulo and more than $150 million under management. It writes first checks of $100,000 to $500,000 and follows on with $1 million to $4 million at Series A, indexing toward B2B companies where proprietary data and AI create defensibility: deep tech, fintech, healthtech, logistics and cyber. Roughly a third of its portfolio is female-founded.
LAB Miami Ventures
An early-stage PropTech fund and studio based at The LAB Miami coworking hub in Wynwood, focused on real-estate and construction technology with a preference for recurring-revenue models. One of the few sector-specialist funds in a city whose economy is still, at bottom, a real-estate economy.
Coconut Grove: The Hometown Fund
Fuel Venture Capital
Fuel is the largest venture firm born in Miami. Founded in 2017 in Wynwood and relocated to Coconut Grove in 2021, it manages roughly $550 million across five funds and has backed Replit, CookUnity, RecargaPay and Betr. Led by Jeff Ransdell, a 21-year Wall Street veteran, and Maggie Vo, Fuel runs a phased-investing model that starts at seed and follows companies into growth rounds, with early checks of $1 million to $5 million. It has deployed more than $100 million into South Florida companies specifically and maintains a second office in San Francisco.
2901 Florida Ave., Suite 840, Miami, FL 33133 · no published phone; fuelventurecapital.com
Miami Beach and Downtown: Growth Money and Latin America
General Atlantic (Miami Beach) and Blackstone (Downtown)
Both global firms built real Miami operations after 2021 and kept them. General Atlantic’s growth-equity team and Blackstone’s downtown technology hub are not venture investors in the traditional sense, but they are the deepest pools of late-stage capital physically located in the region.
SoftBank Latin America Fund
SoftBank headquartered its $5 billion Latin America Fund in Miami and, through its 2021 Miami Initiative, deployed more than $250 million across a dozen local companies including Lumu Technologies, Ontop and AllHere. Its pace has slowed sharply since 2023, but it remains the single most important bridge between Miami founders and Latin American growth capital.
Bicycle Capital
A $500 million Latin America growth fund based in Miami, backing later-stage technology companies across Brazil, Mexico and the Andean region. For LatAm founders who set up a U.S. headquarters in Miami, Bicycle is the growth-stage counterpart to TheVentureCity and H20 Capital at seed.
Miami’s Seed and Micro-Fund Layer
The firms below rarely make headlines but account for a large share of first institutional checks in Miami-Dade.
| Firm | Checks | What They Back |
|---|---|---|
| Krillion Ventures | $100K–$1M | Health, fintech, real estate tech |
| ANIMO Ventures | $500K–$2M | Early-stage incl. fintech (~$140M AUM) |
| Pareto Holdings | Pre-seed | Global generalist; fast decisions |
| Ocean Azul Partners | $200K–$3M | Operator-led; South Florida carve-out |
| H20 Capital | Pre-seed | Spanish-speaking LatAm–US founders |
| Black Operator Ventures | Pre-seed/seed | Black founders; all-founder GP team |
| Secocha Ventures | Seed | Consumer and technology |
| Aminta Ventures | Seed | Women-led investing collective |
| 305 Ventures | $100K–$10M | Sector-agnostic |
Krillion Ventures, launched in 2014 by Melissa Krinzman (the City of Miami’s first Venture Capitalist in Residence) and Tim Miller, is the longest-running of these and reviews decks within about 48 hours at oneinakrillion@krillionventures.com. Ocean Azul Partners, in Coral Gables, is run by former operators and reserves part of each fund for South Florida companies. Pareto Holdings, founded by Shutterstock founder Jon Oringer and Edward Lando, is known for committing quickly to founder conversations.
Miami Angels and New World Angels
In March 2026 Miami’s largest angel group merged with Boca Raton’s New World Angels, the region’s oldest, to form a single $65 million statewide platform. Miami Angels’ stated focus is U.S.-based, post-launch SaaS companies; New World Angels historically backed a broader mix including medical devices. For a founder with a product in market and no institutional money yet, this merged group is now the most likely source of a first $250,000 to $1 million.
eMerge Americas Angels
The conference organizer’s angel arm has more than 120 members deploying an estimated $15 million to $20 million a year, with a tilt toward companies serving Hispanic markets or with Latin American operations.
Fort Lauderdale: The B2B Software Address
Las Olas Venture Capital
LOVC is Broward County’s flagship fund and one of the few South Florida firms that always leads its rounds. Founded in 2015 by former B2B operators, it writes $1.5 million to $3 million lead checks into vertical SaaS, workflow-automation and applied-AI companies replacing legacy systems in fragmented industries. It reviews more than 1,000 deals a year and funds fewer than 1%.
200 E. Las Olas Blvd., Suite 1400, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301 · buildthefuture@lasolasvc.com · (954) 289-4686 (directory-listed)
FoundersBoost South Florida
A six-week pre-accelerator that takes no equity and charges no fees; alumni have collectively raised more than $400 million and gone on to Y Combinator and Techstars. For Broward founders it is the most common on-ramp to LOVC and the Miami seed funds.
Boca Raton and West Palm Beach: Angels, Cyber and Private Equity
Palm Beach County has more billionaires per square mile than venture funds, and its capital reflects that: the county is stronger on angel and private-equity money than on classic seed funds. Early-stage founders there typically raise from the merged angel platform, drive an hour south to Miami, or go to statewide funds like Florida Funders.
SYN Ventures (West Palm Beach)
Founded in 2021 by former CISOs Jay Leek and Patrick Heim, SYN invests only in security: cybersecurity, industrial and national-defense security, privacy, compliance and data governance. It has made more than 60 investments nationally, mostly at Series A and later, and is the most specialized fund in the region. Contact is through its website only.
Cambridge Capital (West Palm Beach)
A growth investor focused narrowly on supply-chain technology, logistics software and transportation services.
525 S. Flagler Dr., Suite 200, West Palm Beach, FL 33401 · cambridgecapital.com
Palm Beach Capital (West Palm Beach)
A lower-middle-market private equity firm founded in 2001 that does buyouts and growth-equity deals, typically $5 million to $25 million, in profitable private companies. Its 2021 majority investment in St. Petersburg’s Growve is a representative deal.
525 S. Flagler Dr., Suite 201, West Palm Beach, FL 33401 · (561) 659-9022
Comvest Partners (West Palm Beach)
With roughly $10.4 billion under management, Comvest provides equity and debt to middle-market companies; its credit business became Manulife | Comvest Credit Partners in 2026.
360 S. Rosemary Ave., Suite 1700, West Palm Beach, FL 33401 · (561) 727-2000
Ambition Accelerated
A $10 million seed initiative funded by Related Ross chairman Stephen Ross and Citadel’s Ken Griffin to recruit founders and investors to the Palm Beach–Miami “Gold Coast.” Small in dollars, large in signal: it is the first time the region’s two most powerful relocated financiers have jointly funded startups rather than office towers.
Sun Capital Partners (Boca Raton)
A global operational-turnaround private equity firm with more than 375 portfolio companies over its history. Not a venture investor, but a major Boca employer and an occasional acquirer of scaled South Florida businesses.
What South Florida Investors Look For
Three patterns separate Miami investors from their New York and Bay Area peers. First, they want a credible path to profitability inside 18 months rather than a growth-at-all-costs plan. Second, a Latin America angle is a genuine advantage here and nowhere else: roughly two-thirds of funded Miami startups report international customers, and the LatAm-focused funds (TheVentureCity, H20, Bicycle, SoftBank) will take meetings that a Boston fund would not. Third, relationships drive deal flow; cold decks work at Krillion and Pareto, but most rounds are assembled through Refresh Miami events, eMerge Americas, Endeavor Miami and the angel network.
South Florida VC Contact Sheet
| Firm | Location | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel Venture Capital | 2901 Florida Ave. #840, Miami 33133 | fuelventurecapital.com |
| TheVentureCity | Wynwood, Miami | theventure.city |
| Founders Fund | Wynwood, Miami | foundersfund.com |
| Atomic | Miami | atomic.vc |
| Boldstart Ventures | Miami / NYC | boldstart.vc |
| Borderless Capital | Brickell, Miami | borderlesscapital.io |
| H.I.G. Capital | 1450 Brickell Ave., 31st Fl., Miami 33131 | (305) 379-2322 |
| Thoma Bravo | 830 Brickell Plaza, Miami 33131 | thomabravo.com |
| Krillion Ventures | Miami | oneinakrillion@krillionventures.com |
| Ocean Azul Partners | Coral Gables | oceanazul.com |
| Miami Angels / NWA | Miami / Boca Raton | miamiangels.vc |
| Las Olas VC | 200 E. Las Olas Blvd. #1400, Ft. Lauderdale 33301 | (954) 289-4686 |
| SYN Ventures | West Palm Beach | synventures.com |
| Cambridge Capital | 525 S. Flagler Dr. #200, WPB 33401 | cambridgecapital.com |
| Palm Beach Capital | 525 S. Flagler Dr. #201, WPB 33401 | (561) 659-9022 |
| Comvest Partners | 360 S. Rosemary Ave. #1700, WPB 33401 | (561) 727-2000 |
Phone numbers are shown only where the firm or a Florida corporate filing publishes one. Most seed funds accept pitches exclusively through their websites.
Brian’s Take
Miami’s venture story is usually told as a before-and-after: the 2021 gold rush, then the 2023 hangover. The more useful frame is a sorting. The firms that came for the tax rate and the mayor’s tweets went home; the firms that came for Latin America, crypto infrastructure and a cheaper place to build stayed, and they now have three vintage years of local deals to show for it.
What the region still lacks is a homegrown Series B lead. Fuel is the only Miami-born fund writing eight-figure follow-on checks with regularity, and it cannot carry the whole ecosystem. The growth money that does live here (H.I.G., General Atlantic, Blackstone, Thoma Bravo) invests globally and treats Miami as an address, not a mandate. Until a $250 million-plus fund is raised with a South Florida thesis, the region’s best seed companies will keep raising their growth rounds in New York.
The upside case is Palm Beach. The county has more private wealth per capita than any venture hub in America and almost no venture infrastructure. Ross and Griffin’s $10 million seed initiative is a rounding error for either man, but it is the first sign that the “Wall Street South” migration is starting to produce startup capital, not just office leases. If that turns into a real fund, the map of South Florida venture capital will need to be redrawn northward.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much venture capital did Miami-area startups raise in 2025?
$4.13 billion across 376 deals in the Miami-Dade-to-Palm-Beach corridor, up 49% from 2024, according to eMerge Insights.
Which Miami VC firms lead seed rounds?
Fuel Venture Capital, TheVentureCity, Las Olas Venture Capital, Boldstart Ventures and ANIMO Ventures lead rounds; Krillion, Pareto and Ocean Azul typically co-invest.
Which Miami investors focus on Latin America?
TheVentureCity, H20 Capital, Bicycle Capital, SoftBank Latin America Fund and eMerge Americas Angels all have explicit Latin America mandates.
Is there still crypto venture capital in Miami?
Yes. Borderless Capital manages more than $500 million and blockchain startups in the metro raised $243 million in the first half of 2025.
Where do Palm Beach County founders raise money?
Usually from the merged Miami Angels–New World Angels platform, from Miami funds, or from statewide investors; the county’s own capital is mostly private equity and family offices.
Did the big Silicon Valley firms leave Miami?
Andreessen Horowitz closed its Miami Beach office in 2023, but Founders Fund, Thiel Capital, Thoma Bravo, General Atlantic and Blackstone all maintain active Miami offices as of 2026.
Sources and Further Reading
- Refresh Miami, “Miami area startups snag $4.13B in VC in 2025” — https://refreshmiami.com/news/miami-area-startups-snag-4-13b-in-vc-in-2025-new-emerge-insights-report-has-the-details/
- eMerge Americas, 2025 Annual Insights Report — https://emergeamericas.com/2025-annual-insights-report/
- Refresh Miami, “Miami area startups attracted $832M in VC in Q2, PitchBook reports” — https://refreshmiami.com/news/miami-area-startups-attracted-832m-in-vc-in-q2-pitchbook-reports-weve-got-the-top-deals/
- ValueAddVC, “Every VC Firm in Miami & South Florida — 2026 Directory” — https://valueaddvc.com/miami-vc-firms
- ValueAddVC, “Miami VC: $3.5–4B, 85 Firms” — https://valueaddvc.com/blog/miami-vc-firms-2026-who-is-investing-in-south-florida-startups
- OpenVC, “Top Venture Capital Firms and Investors in Miami” — https://www.openvc.app/investor-lists/venture-capital-firms-investors-miami
- Rho, “Miami’s 12 Most Active Venture Capital Firms” — https://www.rho.co/blog/vc-firms-in-miami-fl
- Capital Analytics Associates, “West Palm Beach’s rise as a venture capital powerhouse” — https://capitalanalyticsassociates.com/west-palm-beachs-rise-as-a-venture-capital-powerhouse/
- Krillion Ventures — https://www.krillionventures.com/details/
- TheVentureCity — https://www.theventure.city/
- Las Olas Venture Capital (OpenVC profile) — https://www.openvc.app/fund/Las%20Olas%20Venture%20Capital
- Palm Beach Capital, Our Team — https://www.pbcap.com/our-team/
- Comvest Partners, Contact — https://comvest.com/contact-us/
- Growth List, “380+ Funded Miami Startups 2026” — https://growthlist.co/miami-startups/
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