Monday kicked off Techweek Miami celebrations, a weeklong festival of events highlighting the talent and talent-backers of Miami's burgeoning startup community while bringing in some of the national community's brightest minds and leading stars. Techweek is the Chicago-based traveling festival's last extravaganza of the year, and the team couldn't be more pleased to come to the Magic City.
“Miami has a vibrant startup community, and it's a great place to be at the end of the year,” says Amanda Signorelli, director of business development. “It's a great chance for us to celebrate innovation and fly our finalists to a fantastic place.”
Running now through Saturday, December 12, Techweek Miami has teamed up with a ton of partners to bring exciting opportunities to participants. Today at 5 p.m., Hatch Match will give investors and entrepreneurs a chance to network in a speed-date-like environment. Come Wednesday, a teamup with Uber brings fund-seekers UberPitch, which literally puts local entrepreneurs in the car with potential investors all day. There's also a pitch competition later that afternoon at Venture Hive at 6 p.m.
Though the celebrations last through Saturday, the biggest event happens Thursday at 5 p.m., when Techweek's yearlong National Launch Championship announces a winner. Six teams are going head to head representing the best in six of Techweek's cities. Competing for $50,000 are Detroit's SLOPE, Chicago's Apollo Medical Devices, Kansas City's VideoFizz, Los Angeles' Pick My Solar, and Miami's locally grown competing team, which will be announced Wednesday.
“Each company has achieved significant milestones and grown immensely even since we last saw them in their respective markets,” Signorelli says. “All of them would be great potential investments. At the end of the day, we are looking for a business that Techweek can invest in with the potential to generate substantial returns. We'll be looking at
Techweek wants to be sure everyone in the Miami area who's moving and improving our startup scene is recognized, though, so they compiled the greatest entrepreneurs, investors, programmers, developers, supporters, and all-around hard workers into a notable list of Miami's Techweek 100. This elite congregation is applauded and rewarded throughout the week. Make sure you check out the list and look out for their faces during the festivities. You could learn something from a quick conversation, and it's always worth knowing your neighbors.
The rest of us are invited to partake in the week's fun. There is ample opportunity to pick up a few tricks, and it's a great way to meet the people building our community from the ground up.
“For startups to thrive, they need talent, capital, mentorship, and space,” she says. “We believe Miami is on a trajectory for growth as a tech ecosystem and, while we are excited for Techweek Miami 2015, we are equally excited for the future. We'll be back in 2016, and we hope to see everyone next year as well.”
Techweek Miami
For a full schedule, visit techweek.com/schedule/miami.
