Recently at eMerge Americas, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, joined by Commissioner Jean Monestime, announced the $1 million Business Innovation Start-Up Grant – BizUp – for local small businesses investing in tech and innovation. To start, BizUp provided four minority-owned, local startups with $50,000 grants each, which were vetted by local stakeholders, after applying to the eMerge Startup Showcase Program. Subsequent funds will be deployed at later dates in hackathons, with partners such as eMerge Americas, Black Ambition, and others.
The local startups selected to receive the first round of funding are:
- BON2, a patented toolset that allows people to create shoppable and branchable video content with Hedera Hashgraph Smart Contracts built into every scene. Viewers of the technology utilize video akin to a search engine when they are curious about whatever they see on screen.
- Crystal Clear, the first-ever mobile phone application that enables patients to select the optimal location for elective procedures based on price, performance, and in-network availability of high-cost physicians.
- DINERAZO, a free financial education platform and one-stop-shop of financial services for Hispanics in the United States.
- Storybook, an app that helps parents and their children prepare for bedtime.
“Through the BizUP program, created with the leadership of Commissioner Monestime, we’ll be awarding $1 million dollars to Miami-Dade tech startups to grow their participation in our booming tech sector, create good jobs and support our local economy,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. “Miami-Dade’s small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and with our Business Innovation Start-Up Grant we can help more entrepreneurs get off the ground. Together with the $5M we committed already to Tech Equity, this will be one of the largest government investments to fuel innovation and local startups in our county.”
“My goal in authoring BizUp was to assist with the sustainability of small businesses in our community with a special focus on innovation and equity,” said Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jean Monestime. “As we launch BizUp today, I look forward to Miami-Dade County creating more small business success stories and becoming even more of a hub for entrepreneurs to realize their vision of business formation and contribution to the South Florida economy.”
