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By Nikki Cabus

Miami-based Atomic Venture announces new $320 million fund and addition of 3rd GP

Read Time 3 Minutes

Atomic Ventures, a Miami-based VC firm just announced that they have raised their 4th and largest fund to date at $320 million.

The fund will be used to found new startups the firm will create and further fund existing portfolio companies. The last fund raise of $260 million back in 2021, created more than a dozen new companies with several of them right here in South Florida. The recent fund brings Atomic to over $750 million in total assets in management, the largest venture studio fund in the technology industry.

Atomic does things a little differently than most VCs, They only writes checks to startups it spins up itself. The firms is said to have a list of hundreds of ideas in which they find co-founders for and then invest in. Atomic brings ideas, capital, resources, and talent together—partnering with co-founders to build the best ideas into great companies. They found AND fund companies.

“I think this is the best time potentially in history to be building a company,” said Jack Abraham, the founder, CEO, and managing partner of Atomic, during their recent 2023 Builders Summit.  He continued, “Historically, the best and biggest companies are built during downturns.”

Abraham discussed the advantages such as less noise, less competition and more available talent. He also highlights the potential for technology to disrupt and innovate every facet of life and how entrepreneurship can address major issues such as healthcare and energy.

He stresses the importance of great talent stating that “the talent availability in tremendous” with tons of talent coming through their doors. So much, that the company is having a hard time processing all the applicants.

Jack moved to Miami in July 2020 for the opportunity to build new startups and has since brought along our General Partner, Chester Ng and COO, Healey Cypher, as well as several other key leaders from the Atomic team and from their broader portfolio of high-growth startups.

Atomic also recently announced the expansion of their team with the addition of  Kristin Schaefer as their third General Partner.

Kristin was previously the CFO at Postmates. She joined as the tenth employee, building out growth, analytics, finance, and, eventually, as CFO, leading the company’s near-IPO process and ultimate acquisition by Uber for $5 billion – with a B. As an angel investor in Postmates, Jack said there would have been no way the company would have become a $1B revenue run-rate company that raised nearly $1B in funding without the support of Kristin.

Before Postmates, Kristin worked at PayPal for David Marcus’s strategy team and Clarium on Peter Thiel’s global macro investment strategy.

Over the past year, Atomic Ventures has grown to a team of over 75 builders, started 16 companies and secured funding to fuel the growth of some of the most exciting and promising startups yet. One of which is based right here in Miami: OpenStore.

Founded in 2021, OpenStore is a way for Shopify entrepreneurs looking to sell their eCommerce businesses quickly and easily in just a matter of days. OpenStore has been able to acquire dozens of businesses representing millions of dollars in deal flow. With their $32 million round in 2022, OpenStore now has total equity funding over $150 million from investors that include Atomic, Founders Fund, General Catalyst and Khosla Ventures.

With the new wave of exciting AI companies, Atomic Ventures also recently welcomed two new fellow entrepreneurs as VPs, Lauren Dickstein and Michael Stenclik, alongside Jordan Kong, Phil Liu, and Sharon Winter.

Click here to learn more about Atomic and what they look for in their co-founders.

By Nikki Cabus

Space Florida and Florida Venture Forum Award $100,000 to Early Stage Companies

Read Time 4 Minutes

Space Florida and the Florida Venture Forum, Florida’s largest statewide support organization for investors and entrepreneurs, are pleased to announce the award winners at the 2022 Florida Early Stage Capital Conference in Tampa will receive a total of $100,000. The Early Stage Capital Conference is “where capital and innovation meet!”

This event marks the 15th year the Florida Venture Forum has hosted the Florida Early Stage Capital Conference. The 19 presenting companies including 8 from southeast Florida were selected from a pool of more than 150 applicants by a committee of active Florida venture capital investors. The companies eligible to win originated from one of several industries including aerospace, artificial intelligence, robotics, virtual reality, cybersecurity, and others.

A total of 19 companies presented this year and 3 of the 5 winners were from South Florida!

Grand Prize Winner ($40,000) – Miami (Miami-Dade County)

EVQLV leverages advances in computation to revolutionize the design and development of therapeutic antibodies. We work with partners at the discovery stage to accelerate the speed of antibody discovery. For those collaborators who have preclinical, clinical, or commercial assets, we support the optimization of antibody candidates, develop assets that expand IP protection, and design next generation and innovative immunotherapies. All of our work is performed at accelerated speeds and scale only feasible by leveraging computational tools that learn from massive and diverse datasets.

 

2nd Place Winner ($30,000) –  Daytona Beach (Volusia County)

Novineer, Inc. is a design hub where novel engineering design meets 3D printing. The company plans to bring a 3D printing design and simulation software to market that will streamline the process of designing, modeling and fabricating parts

 

 

 

3rd Place Winner ($20,000) – Juno Beach (Palm Beach County)

Revterra Corporation is developing a modular kinetic battery designed to mitigate demand charges and infrastructure upgrade requirements in applications such as high-power electric vehicle charging and larger grid-scale applications. They are a 35 Mules (powered by FPL) innovation hub startup.

 

 

Additionally, OverTheShoulder and Pet HealthCare Innovations were the recipients of the 13th annual 2022 Statewide Collegiate Startup Competition, attracting the “best of the best” in collegiate competitors from 11 of Florida’s leading innovation-focused colleges and universities.  They were an FAU Tech Runway startup. They will receive $5,000.

“This year’s applicants exemplify the ingenuity and forward-thinking that is essential to success in the today’s business climate. The ingenuity of this year’s winners is a testament to the innovative and entrepreneurial culture we have fostered here in Florida,” said Space Florida president and CEO Frank DiBello. “Together with the Florida Venture Forum we are proud to support these businesses as they continue to push boundaries and bring new technologies and solutions to market.”

Space Florida provided the Accelerating Innovation prize money totaling $100,000. The goal of the Early Stage Capital Conference is to provide Florida entrepreneurs and innovators an opportunity to engage with potential investors. Space Florida supported capital accelerators have attracted more than $640 million in funding and investments for the participating companies. Seven colleges and universities were chosen to participate in this year’s Statewide Collegiate Startup Competition.

Space Florida was created to strengthen Florida’s position as the global leader in aerospace research, investment, exploration and commerce. The Florida Venture Forum is Florida’s largest statewide support organization for investors and entrepreneurs, helping fast-growth companies connect with sources of capital from across the country.

“Congratulations to EVQLV, Novineer, Inc., Revterra Corporation and to all the winners and participants at the 2022 Early Stage Capital Conference,” said Kevin Burgoyne, president and CEO of the Florida Venture Forum. “We are extremely grateful to our partners at Space Florida for their support and commitment to the Forum, and to Florida’s innovation ecosystem. Cash awards like this one, plus the venture capital Forum members invest in startups, are like rocket fuel for the companies powering Florida’s future.”

The Forum provides programs and programming statewide throughout the year in addition to hosting major annual conferences like the Florida Venture Capital Conference, the Statewide Collegiate Startup Competition, the Early Stage Capital Conference, and industry-focused events including aerospace and healthcare.

For more info on the Florida Early Stage Capital Conference, visit flventure.org/2022-early-stage-capital-conference/

Miami-based Atomic Venture announces new $320 million fund and addition of 3rd GP
Space Florida and Florida Venture Forum Award $100,000 to Early Stage Companies