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Felice Gorordo is the CEO of eMerge Americas. Originally from Cuba, he now lives in Miami, where he says the city has been passing through a “renaissance”.
In an interview with Bloomberg Línea, Gorordo said that Miami had exponential growth in terms of tech and venture. “From 2019, we started to have that J curve effect, doubling the venture dollars invested year over year.” He states that $1 billion was invested in Miami startups in 2019, $2.2 billion in 2020, and $4.3 billion in 2021. “And we’re just getting started,” he says.
Asked if being in Miami facilitates for Latin America’s entrepreneurs to raise capital, he said the city can be a soft landing for entrepreneurs and investors from Latin America looking to access North American markets, as well as entrepreneurs and investors looking to access Latin America markets.
“We believe we can be a launchpad for those companies to be able to accelerate, scale, much faster. In our nature, we are very welcoming. Because in our essence, we are a city built by immigrants. The overwhelming majority - almost 70% - of our residents are from somewhere else. If they, themselves, are not immigrants, they are the children of immigrants. And so because of that, we are proud to receive everyone with open arms, and bring them into the fold and help them make the city their own.”
Diversity of language and culture makes it easier for LatAm entrepreneurs to gain access to certain networks they need to succeed, which is not the case in Silicon Valley, according to him.
“Not against Silicon Valley, but it tends to be a very insular community and ecosystem. It does not have the same cultural, language benefits that we offer. And in times I would say it is not as welcoming of those who are not from there. That is very much our competitive advantage.”
In 2019, SoftBank made a big bet in Latin America with its Latin America Fund. And I chose the headquarters in Miami. “There’s no doubt the two are linked in venture activity correlation. If you compare venture activity in South Florida alongside Latin America there were times when we were literally neck and neck. Now LatAm has surpassed Miami on taking of VC capital, but this is a prime for any entrepreneur looking to access the US markets to look for a soft landing to come and check it out for themselves.”
Asked if Miami-based companies can get bigger tickets than the ones based in LatAm, Gorordo said it depends on risk profiles and the thesis of the venture capital fund. “There’s no doubt that there is a correlation between companies that relocate here being able to raise larger rounds and being able to get bigger ticket sizes, just because there is a whole new world of VCs that only invest in US-based companies. Though I think that the last couple of years kind of broken that model in having more companies that traditionally did not invest in markets outside the US taking an active role, and leading some rounds.”
Some of the largest VC funds like a16z and others are not requiring their entrepreneurs to reallocate to Miami, and Gorordo said he doesn’t think it is a requirement as well, but an advantage. “We do not want to drain them from Latin America, but rather we want them to be able to access these resources and take them back to their countries of origin.”
According to Gorordo, Miami tech growth has been accelerated by Covid-19, when some of the leading entrepreneurs and investors in the world reallocated to Miami. “In part because we were open for business, in part because we created a friendly regulatory tax framework system, but I think as well because you can work in Wall Street, but live in paradise, which is Miami in the winter.”
When early-stage VCs and global private equity funds reallocated to Miami in the past 18 months, they brought together $2 trillion in AUM (assets under management), according to Gorordo. “That has been transformational. Money follows talent. Last year Miami was the one for reallocation of tech talent in the US, above established tech hubs like Austin or Seattle.”
The CEO says that it was only possible to capitalize on this moment because of the foundation of the last decade building Miami’s tech ecosystem, promoting collaboration between stakeholders. After two years on hold due to the pandemic, eMerge Americas will host a global tech conference anchoring Miami tech hub on April 18-19, bringing together the tech ecosystem and leaders under one roof.
