A New Star is Born: The First-Ever Startup World Cup Miami – Mission Completed!

When someone says you can’t do it, do it twice and take pictures.”
I am honored and grateful as a Project Coordinator to launch and add Startup World Cup Miami to my “First Time in History” projects portfolio.
My specialization is making the impossible possible, and making Miami the best place to work and live is a milestone we’ve achieved together.
More to come: I will continue to contribute to Global Tech Ecosystem development and boost talented people and startups.

I’m grateful to all my friends, family, partners, founders, and communities. Thank you for your dedication from day one, when it was just an idea, and for trusting and believing in me.

Dmitry Dubovik Siarhei Khaladkou Veronika Lemle Uliana Fabianny Crespo Nadin Krukouskaya Andres F Collazos Carrasco Etienne Gillard Edison Sabala, MBA, MPH Noelle Jackson Edgard D. Duque Joel Mena Ayal Stern Gozel Akeyeva Denis Hiller Nikolai Strakh Amy Peck Cliff Brookes Mark Voltaire

Partners: Pegasus Tech Ventures Miami DDA Venture Miami Keith A. Carswell Erick Gavin Burhan Sebin Kelly Montoya Nicola Demko Delta Air Lines City of Miami Omni CRA Miami Parking Authority Mana Tech The Economic Club of Miami AiSalon Gale Miami Hotel &Residences Lemle Fashion New York Meraki Greek Bistro THE HUB @ Office Logic Swift Sourcing.

The Source Team: Hilmon Sorey Ted Lucas Stefan A. Owens Anayansy Hernandez Talayah

Startup World Cup is the world’s largest startup conference and pitch competition. This year, the Startup World Cup had its FIRST-EVER Miami Regional Competition.

The Source team has made this competition possible. The Miami Regional Champion Startup Representative will compete at the Grand Finale in San Francisco.

The competition remains one of the strongest this year. We received over 130 applications and selected the top 60 startups to compete for a spot in the top 10:

• 17 industries: AI/ML, AdTech, AR/VR/XR, Automotive, Climate Tech/Sustainability, DeepTech, eCommerce, EdTech, FinTech, Gaming, HealthTech/Lifescience, HRTech, InfraTech, PropTech, Travel&Logistics,
• 40% of the startups have already raised capital ranging from $50K to $10 million, and 30% have ARR between $100K and $10 million.
• The beauty of our community is its rich diversity, with representatives of different nationalities and cultures.

The Regional Final gathered 200+ and the Demo Day  500 attendees. Our mission is: to make Startup World Cup Miami not just a competition, but a platform uniting Florida’s tech ecosystem, industry leaders, startups, and communities, support the local businesses, and bridge business and tech.

We thank our partners and Tech communities for their continued support of the Startup World Cup to place Miami on the global tech map, providing services and resources for South Florida entrepreneurs.

General Partners

Miami DDA is focused on promoting the economic health and vitality of Downtown Miami and does this in many ways. One of their resources is to offer grants to businesses relocating or expanding into Downtown. We’re proud to help on this mission as we hold many of our Startup World Cup Miami events in the heart of Downtown Miami.

Venture Miami is an office within the City of Miami focused on improving the City’s standard of living through the creation of jobs, support for innovation, increase in wealth, and an overall improvement in the quality of life.

Delta Air Lines is connecting South Florida’s innovative businesses with the world and will ensure the flight MIA-SF-MIA for the Startup World Cup Miami Champion.

Top 10 Selection Process:

• 9 startups will be chosen by the Selection Committee.
• 1 startup will be selected by “People’s Choice” (public voting on site).

We used global Venture Capital and Startup industry criteria for judging:

Judging Criteria:

• Idea Innovation
• Market Size
• Impact
• Live Presentation & Q&A with the Selection Committee

Miami’s Choice is Done: Meet the Top 10 Winners

1. Sargassum Eco Lumber – The winner of the Startup World Cup Miami.
   We tackle the environmental crises of sargassum inundation, plastic waste, and deforestation by creating durable, eco-friendly building materials from invasive seaweed and recycled plastics, offering a sustainable alternative to traditional lumber.
2. Real Hire – Traditional resumes fail to capture the full spectrum of a candidate’s skills and personality, leading to millions of dollars in employee turnover. Real Hire is setting out to change the way candidates and employees engage with one another. We want candidates to put their personalities on display.
3. MRGN Making strategic decisions based on graphs and charts is archaic and requires a business degree. Not only are traditional BI solutions inaccessible to small businesses, but they fail to account for factors outside of your company, like competitor activity, stock market and economics, traffic and weather etc. This inadequacy is responsible for 82% of SMB dissolutions.
4. YES.FUN – YES.FUN addresses excessive screen time with gamified storytelling and Extended Reality technology, fostering a supportive community. Its user-generated content economy and multi user features entertain and empower young creators in an immersive XR format.
5. im Financial – Latinos in the US are twice as likely to be financially invisible, they have access to predatory financial products, have fewer opportunities for wealth generation and lack access to financial services and financial literacy to grow out of this undesirable situation.
6. Investrio – Debt cripples financial goals for over 90 million Americans, with US consumer debt surpassing $17 trillion, it’s crucial. Debt also impedes the accomplishment of significant life and financial milestones. Generic apps are one-size-fits-all, and advisors are expensive. Investrio offers a personalized roadmap to debt freedom & wealth building.
7. {Codename: E-lixr} – Waterfront metro areas face major transportation challenges. Bridges, tunnels, and causeways are not enough to solve this transportation crux, forcing commuters and passengers to ride individually and emit the most emissions.
8. Regenerate Waste Management Tremendous value is thrown into landfills and we are building systems to extract useful materials from trash.
9. CoachEra – addresses a global $8.9T corporate productivity loss while minimizing employee burnout with a SaaS powered performance platform designed to optimize growth and drive to outcomes, at scale.
10. Dingdoor  – Public choice. Online marketing is too complex and expensive. In the US, only 10% of businesses have an online presence. It’s hard to find a home service provider when you need one. Our easy-to-use app helps customers connect with technicians in minutes. Like Uber for drivers, we provide opportunities for technicians ready to work

Startup ‘Mystery on Main Street’ won a prize from The Gale Hotel & Residence, our Hospitality Partner and a newly opened venue, in a raffle: a gift certificate for a two-night stay.

Startup World Cup Miami Demo Day became a bridge between Fashion and Tech. Every participant had the opportunity to try on the look of a Cover Magazine Icon at Demo Day with our partner, Veronika Lemle. Veronika is a fashion stylist, producer, and renowned international expert with a portfolio on models.com, as well as an influencer with 100K+ followers worldwide. Receive personal styling advice and capture an exclusive photo at our Red Carpet Photozone. Her impressive client portfolio includes renowned names such as model Maye Musk, singer Lisa Lisa, performer Sikori, and other top models and celebrities.