Business Report

Promoting Miami’s Innovators and Entrepreneurs

Knight Foundation’s 2020 Grant Awards. By Raul Moas.

Eight projects and organizations have been selected to foster, nurture and build a community of entrepreneurs that is welcoming, vibrant, and alive — a fertile community for entrepreneurs to start businesses and a commitment of funding. Also, provide guidance to evolve and thrive…

The Idea Center at Miami Dade College, the downtown Wolfson Campus.

Knight is investing more than $1M into these eight projects:

1. Black Angels Miami ($250,000): To contribute to a more diverse and inclusive venture investment landscape within Miami’s startup community by supporting the launch of Black Angels Miami, an angel investment group connecting it’s members to top-notch startups while also increasing the number of black angel investors.
2. Function Collective ($240,000): To elevate Miami as a source of investment capital in the global venture capital ecosystem by supporting the launch of Function, a membership organization that connects Miami’s investor and private wealth community and activates them in early-stage technology investments across the hemisphere.
3. Venture Cafe Miami ($160,000): To expand the diversity of high-growth businesses in Miami and engender a more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem through Passport, a program that trains and connects founders in low-growth businesses with each other and with partners to enable these businesses to transition to higher-growth.
4. Craftspeople ($140,000): To increase the availability of high-growth company building expertise so that Miami’s founders do not have to look elsewhere for guidance and mentorship by supporting the launch of Craftspeople, a membership organization that brings together entrepreneurs through monthly workshops led by seasoned founders and venture builders.
5. Black Men Talk Tech ($100,000): To support more successful tech ventures led by black men by better connecting black entrepreneurs and investors through the expansion of the Black Men Talk Tech conference.
6. Miami Herbert Business School ($100,000): To increase the flow of global leaders and knowledge coming through Miami by supporting a speakers series featuring distinguished leaders in business and venture building.
7. The Idea Center at Miami Dade College ($50,000): To create additional avenues for new participants to enter Miami’s startup ecosystem, and to create a denser, more familiar community of entrepreneurs and high-potential talent by supporting the local chapter of 1 Million Cups, a national network of weekly meetups by and for entrepreneurs.
8. Out In Tech ($50,000): To support community building and career advancement within Miami’s startup community for LGBTQ+ stakeholders by supporting the launch of the Miami chapter of Out in Tech.

The Idea is to ultimately attract even more talented individuals who live and work here in Miami-Dade County.

Raul Moas, Miami Program Director, Knight Foundation.

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