In FY2016, Space Florida created the Accelerating Innovation Award, cash prizes totaling $150,000 to be awarded to winners of capital acceleration events held in conjunction with the Florida Venture Forum.
The partnership with Florida Venture Forum, an entrepreneurial and private company investor networking group, came to fruition in FY2016. Space Florida, Florida Venture Forum and the capital accelerator events seeks to strengthen existing capital acceleration and small business development programs within the State of Florida.
Since the beginning of the Accelerating Innovation Award, there have been four separate capital acceleration events across the state with 80 presenting companies. Those events and winners have included:
Emerging Technologies and Business Showcase – Coral Gables, FL – November 2015
- RedCap, (Fort Lauderdale) – $100,000
- Videoo (Miami Beach) – $50,000
2016 Early Stage Conference – St. Petersburg, FL – May 2016
- Candidate Guru, Inc. (Weston) – $100,000
- Symptify (Sunny Isles Beach) – $30,000
- Streann Media (Miami) – $20,000
2016 Florida VentureTech Showcase – Tampa, FL – November 2016
- Catalyst OrthoScience LLC (Naples) – $100,000
- EagleEye Intelligence (Boca Raton) – $50,000
2017 Early Stage Conference – Orlando, FL – May 2017
- SiteZeus (Tampa) – $75,000
- Auxadyne (Keystone Heights) – $50,000
- Admiral (Gainesville) – $25,000
Including these events with Florida Venture Forum, previous Space Florida business plan and capital acceleration events have led to more than $113.6 million in total capital investments for participating companies.
“Space Florida has been very supportive in our journey by connecting us with resources that accelerate our commercialization efforts. The benefit of the [capital accelerator] events is its ability to bring visibility to emerging tech companies.”
– Joann Ocampo, NeXtGen Biologics, Inc. (past presenting company)
