EUSTIS – Business owners in Lake County have a new resource after UCF’s Business Incubation Program opened its latest facility, this one located in Eustis.
The site, located in a small office in the MEGA Workspace on North Bay Street, will support entrepreneurs within the community with business services including coaching, mentoring and other services.
Area leaders said the facility’s debut could serve as a catalyst for growth in the community.
“We have not had the resources here to answer the question of, ‘How do I start my business?’” said Wendy Taylor, an online marketing expert who has helped lead a semi-resurgence of Lake County’s tech community. “This is a huge opportunity for local entrepreneurs, even those who just have an idea on a napkin. It’s an encouragement for business owners.”
The location becomes the incubation program’s ninth in Central Florida, and first in Lake County. The opening comes amid a concerted effort and commitment to revitalize Eustis.
That’s one reason Lake County officials bought in almost immediately, said Rob Panepinto, an adviser to incubator clients.
“If we can look back in 20 years and say, ‘We were the anchor that helped build economic diversity, what a great feeling that would be,” said Panepinto, the school’s director of innovation districts strategy and partnerships.
The UCF Business Incubation Program has graduated more than 400 businesses during the past 20 years.
The opening was done in partnership with the Florida Small Business Development Center at UCF.
“We like to leverage our brand and be the catalyst to growth,” Panepinto said. “We know we can’t do it by ourselves.”
Mellisa McHaffie hopes the new location will help her build her candle-making business and accelerate her growth.
She said watching the region’s economic engine grow has been a source of pride for her.
“There are good things happening here,” she said. “It takes Eustis to a new level. I always say, don’t sleep on Eustis. There is value here.”
Officials expect the facility to trigger a growth in the business community, which can often happen when an incubator and business resources arrive.
It’s a natural result of seeing an energized business sector, said Carol Ann Dykes Logue, the incubator program’s director.
“When a community realizes that the future of their economy lies in nurturing businesses starting and growing there, it has an interesting effect,” she said. “It unifies a community and creates a different level of relationship. It could trigger a vision for the future that folks haven’t thought about before.”
Orlando Magic innovation has a reputation as one of the more tech-forward thinking franchises in the NBA has been well earned.
The Magic was the first in the league to accept Apple Pay way back in 2014.
Not long after that, they installed 900 beacons at the Amway Center. This decreased the amount of time it took for fans to buy concessions or merchandise and find exits.
In 2018, a partnership with Uber brought them into the ride-sharing business.
It’s a responsibility the team’s EVP of Strategy and Innovation Jay Riola takes seriously, with the Magic naming innovation as a core value for its team.
“We promote a culture of creative thinking and foster an environment where employees are encouraged to take risks to achieve breakthrough results,” said Riola, 38.
Sports Business Journal last year named Riola one of the industry’s “40 Under 40.”
“We try to create opportunities for Magic staff to develop new ideas and solutions, as well as listening to others externally with new and different perspectives, for inspiration and ideas or solutions,” he said.
The event last weekend brought the city’s community of innovators together to tackle business challenges the organization faces.
Orlando Tech News: How does this event enhance the Magic’s role in the community and offer opportunities for your staff?
Jay Riola: “The Challenge is a great way to realize (Magic staff’s ideas), publicly demonstrate our commitment to innovation and engage the broader Central Florida innovation community in a fun and engaging way.”
OTN: This is the second year, of course. What was it about last year’s event that encouraged you to bring it back?
JR: “Our goal last year was simply to produce the event, engage the local innovation community and hear some ideas that could potentially enhance our business and fan experiences. The participants’ engagement, creativity and quality of pitches blew us away.”
OTN: How did that and feedback inform this year’s event?
JR: “We listened to the feedback and this year we did a reverse-pitch style event, where we are sharing six specific business challenges facing the Orlando Magic’s business operations and asking participants to develop and pitch solutions that address those areas. This helps provide more definition and structure. It also ensures that the pitch concepts are valuable to us as an organization.”
OTN: How does this approach fit in with the NBA’s approach to innovation?
JR: “The NBA is incredibly innovative and does an amazing job encouraging and cultivating innovation with fans and its teams. The league has hosted data and analytics hackathons, innovation challenges and has its NBA Launchpad, which evaluates emerging technologies that advance basketball and business priorities.”
OTN: Do teams share their work and grow the league together?
JR: “Yes, the NBA supports and facilitates best practice sharing among teams. This event has prompted several other professional sports teams to reach out and hear more about the event and its results.”
OTN: Can you talk a little bit about Central Florida’s tech community and the Magic’s role within it?
JR: “This region has a fantastic innovation and tech community. From startup to corporate innovation, to higher education and non-profit organizations like the Orlando Economic Partnership and their Orlando Tech Community, or Synapse. There are so many ways to participate and get involved both as an individual and as a company.”
OTN: What can having an event like the challenge contribute to this region?
JR: “The challenge brings together participants from all different backgrounds and provide them opportunities for collaboration and networking. So, the event is really a great opportunity not only to source new ideas for the Magic but also to strengthen Orlando’s innovation ecosystem. We see this as another opportunity to step forward as a community leader in tech and innovation.”
The decision was not an easy one for Brandon Storms.
After building a startup that revolved around creating a services marketplace in Orlando, the entrepreneur took part in an 8-week program meant to solidify a company’s path.
While there, however, an investor suggested that the company pivot and offer the platform they had built as a white label product for others trying to build marketplaces.
“Building a platform is incredibly expensive. It takes a great amount of time from start to finish,” Storms told Orlando Tech News.
While Storms said it wasn’t an easy decision, he and his team took the plunge and created a new startup Retavo.
Now, the company has signed four clients and will participate in the upcoming cohort of Atlanta’s Techstars powered by JP Morgan. The program begins today.
“So far, it’s been a pretty good decision,” he said.
Hello, Techstars
Retavo CEO Brandon Storms
Techstars powered by JP Morgan has long been considered one of the top accelerator programs around.
Several Orlando tech companies have gone through the accelerator. The program prepares entrepreneurs and their teams for life as a small business.
In a blog post on their website, Techstars officials said the 12 companies that will participate in the program came out of a lengthy application process.
“We are honored and humbled by the opportunity to spend the next 13 weeks working closely with these incredible founders, helping them on their journey to transform their industries, elevate their communities, and change the world,” the site read.
The mentorship in Techstars powered by JP Morgan programs usually includes experts and experienced entrepreneurs in similar fields.
The company will have its demo day in the program Dec. 8.
“The biggest thing I’m looking to take away from it is the wealth of knowledge and feedback from their tremendous network,” Storms said. “Building a startup is hard enough and the program gives you the ability to learn from those who have been there or are on the same journey you are on.”
“It felt validating for my team. All all the hard work has paid off up to this point,” Storms said of being accepted into Techstars powered by JP Morgan. “Building a startup is tough enough and getting into a world-class accelerator program like Techstars to help us navigate this awesome journey as we scale is exactly what we were looking for.”
Still, making the pivot was not exactly an easy decision, he said.
After putting a ton of work into Assistt, the team had been determind to see it succeed.
“My role as the leader of the company is to put the company first. I have to set any emotions aside,” said Storms, whose company employs eight. “I knew this pivot gave us the best chance to be a very successful company. I’m glad my team and cofounder Bryan Walsh supported me in that decision.”
Nicholas Walton has been building video games since he was 13.
So, spending his weekend at Central Florida Tech Grove creating a game for Indienomicon Foundation’s Armed Forces Jam was exactly where he wanted to be.
“I just love making games and being with the people in the community,” said Walton, now 20 years old. “I love having an idea and then seeing it on screen.”
By Walton’s count, he has participated in eight hackathons.
The events bring teams together to build a video game or tech experience in a weekend.
The organizers behind the second Armed Forces Jam partnered with Orlando’s military community to create challenges teams could tackle during the weekend.
Among them were creating a Metaverse experience, gamefying military recruitment and creating a sensor-based digital twin.
“It feels great to work on a team, get to know each other and learn to trust each other,” he said.
Walton’s enthusiasm for game jams, generally, and Indienomicon, specifically, earned recognition from others.
Participants at Indienomicon’s Armed Forces Jam built games for several platform, including virtual reality-based products.
Chad Hoover, one of Indienomicon Foundation’s organizers of the jam, said his presence helps keep the event fun and interesting.
“He is a key piece of this,” Hoover said. “He can support teams in a unique manner having been a veteran in the game jam space.”
Indienomicon Foundation has been hosting game jams – which challenges teams to build a video game, usually one related to a theme, in a single weekend – for eight years.
Along with the Armed Forces Jam, the group hosts hackathons with health and space themes.
At the end of the weekend, winners receive cash prizes and, at least for the Armed Forces Jam, will show off what they built at the huge industry conference I/ITSEC.
Last year’s winners said they landed contract work based upon their experience at I/ITSEC.
“They stepped up this year,” Hoover said of the region’s military community. “Because it’s the military, they needed to figure out how valuable this event was [during the event’s inaugural 2021 year]. They are able to light fires and were really supportive.”
Roughly 100 people took part in the Armed Forces Jam this year. That is about double the number of attendees to a health-related event in the summer.
‘This is my sporting event’
The Armed Force Jam drew about 80 attendees to the Central Florida Tech Grove.
Another regular at the events is Juan Rivera, a media design instructor for the Orange County library in downtown Orlando, said the jams represent his way of enjoying himself.
“This is my sporting event,” he said. “I do it for fun and for training my skills. It’s a good way to learn new things.”
Rivera often teaches younger people at the library’s digital tech-focused learning space known as Melrose Center. He said seeing students like Walton, who attends Valencia College, at these events represents its positive impact on the community.
“It’s great to see people who are not just trying to learn but putting it into practice,” said Rivera, whose mine detector game for virtual reality platforms took this year’s top prize.
For Hoover, having advocates and supporters like Walton and Rivera create a base of people he knows will push the organization’s message beyond his own networks.
“He embodies what a game jam is in its truest sense,” Hoover said of Walton. “He uses his core skillset, is usually a lone wolf. His projects are usually close to his heart, very retro and unique. He really knows how to use his skills, which makes his games stand out.”
For the first time in two years, the International Attractions and Amusement Park Association is hosting its annual expo at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.
This is where deals start, as vendors get in front of potential customers for a full week of networking, business card exchanging and collaboration.
This show is all cutting-edge technology for rides, attractions, ticketing systems and, well, pretty much any other area of tourism – both public facing and backend – that you can think of.
On Tuesday, the expo opened its doors and you can see some real heavy virtual reality bent to this year’s event.
We will add to the gallery as the week moves forward but here are roughly 20 pics to whet your appetite.
NOTE: TUESDAY 1-ON-1 IS A MOSTLY WEEKLY SERIES OF DEEP CONVERSATIONS WITH ORLANDO’S RELEVANT AND TIMELY TECH NEWSMAKERS WHICH AIM TO PROVIDE CONTEXT ON THE CITY’S ECOSYSTEM AND BUSINESSES.
Sal Rehmetullah started to get the business itch last summer.
Having exited Orlando’s fintech unicorn Stax alongside his sister, Suneera Madhani, he was ready to explore what might come next.
“We had done a good job of life integration but it was really nice to spend time to enjoy the fruits of our labor for a bit,” he said. “But I don’t think I could just be retired. Golf is fun. Sitting on beaches is great. But it just felt like something was missing.”
That something could be Worth AI, the startup he co-founded and launched recently, about one year after he transitioned out of Stax, known as Fattmerchant when it launched.
He said that the platform, which will produce more accurate risk assessments, quicker decisions and more standardized business credit scores by assessing underwriting and risk management using AI, came after some brainstorming with Madhani.
The duo has already made a splash, having announced a partnership with credit-monitoring giant Equifax earlier this month.
Starting today, we are sharing a two-part interview with Rehmetullah that dives into the company’s origin, where the idea came from and a little bit about what it’s like to build a business with his sister. Part 2 will be published next Tuesday.NOTE: Lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
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How did Worth AI come together?
Suneera had CEO School and women empowerment, specifically. She had another outlet. I did not. So, I started to think about what I wanted to do. We went into a room and were like, “We got to figure out what we want to do.”
You once again partner with your sister. How did you become so close?
I love my sister. I couldn’t build a business without my sister. Suneera and I went to 10 schools in 12 years so we bounced around a lot as children. She was my best friend throughout the process. When you’re in that situation, you learn to not only make the best but also enjoy them. That’s why we were able to do what we did.
We had an amazing run with Stax and clearly its success was a collaboration with both of us. It took both of us to figure out how to win and that’s what we felt really good about. We knew we were going to do something together again, whether it was CEO School and spending more time there, I was absolutely on board. We share the same mission, vision and values as humans.
Why did Worth AI emerge as the business idea to pursue?
We wanted to focus on building a legacy. We come from immigrants and grew up in small business. One challenge has always been getting credit as a business owner.
Talk about the problem you solve with Worth AI.
There are 50 million small and medium-sized businesses in the U.S and each one struggles in some capacity to grow and scale. But you can walk into a Lexus dealership with a W-2 and a 750 credit score and buy a car in 15 minutes.
Under an LLC, it’ll take you three months of bank statements, two years of tax returns, a PNL forecast for the exact same purchase. If you do get underwritten, it’s a very cumbersome process that requires a lot of documentation and time. We said, “Why is there no business credit score?”
Where did the entrepreneurship bug come from in your family?
It goes back to our roots. You think about small businesses in the U.S., you look around and entrepreneurship is cool now. But 20 years ago, it was a necessity. When my parents came here, the American dream was college, corporate job and then buy a house. The way to make a living when you were an immigrant coming in is you had to buy or build a business.
Whether you look at the stereotypes or not, most small U.S. businesses are dominated by some style of immigrant or somebody who really wants to do it, at least historically. Now, entrepreneurship’s gotten cool and everybody wants to be a part of it.
For us, we just grew up in it, right? We always saw the struggles. Our friends and families were a big part of it. That drove a big portion of us wanting to continue to focus in that area.
You famously kept Stax in Orlando for as long as possible. What are your thoughts on Orlando’s tech scene today?
Orlando’s tech community has done a great job of continuously evolving. We still have a lot of work to do but you have the newly minted fintech program at UCF. We are trying to drive more youth and the population to this, which I think is amazing. You’re starting to see more companies want to headquarter and locate in these regions. Then the talent wants to stay here, right? These are all things that have to converge to make this area successful. We have great community leaders that make it possible for you to scale a business here. We are all learning from the regions around the U.S. and the world.
We had a choice once again like we’ve always had. And we said, “Nope, we will continue to stay in Orlando.” We want to be here. We want to grow here. So, you know, I continue to see that there should be a huge prosperous future here.
What are lessons you take from Fattmerchant into Worth AI? What would Sal of 10 years ago tell Sal of today?
It doesn’t get easier. You just get better. We now have a decade of experience. When it comes to that, it’s twofold, right? One, I don’t get the benefit of like, this is a minimal viable product. I don’t get the benefit of like, it’s just a startup. The products that Suneera and I are going to put out have to meet and/or beat the standard of a unicorn business. We’ll get leeway for being early, but the expectations for us are set.
So “unicorn-level” becomes an expectation.
We wouldn’t do it again if we didn’t believe that this would be not just a unicorn, but we generally believe that this can be a “deca-corn” as far as, you know, the way that we can make an actual impact. We have a ton of experience, not only in the sector and the space, but we also have built up great credibility and relationships. From raising capital and private equity groups to being able to talk about some of the key partnerships that we will eventually announce. A lot of these things in customer relationships that take a lot of time for brand new businesses to get started, we’ve been through. We can now leverage our work, our hustle, our experiences to be able to drive that. I think that’s where that magic starts to happen for us is: We can quickly push ourselves and propel ourselves, you know, near the top.
An independent video game studio primarily based in Orlando announced Monday a $10 million funding round to support the development of its debut title.
AVALON has been building what it’s calling “a next-generation massively multiplayer online game” that incorporates interoperability between multiple worlds, with assets adapting and progression carrying over to each world.
The result will be a world that empowers players to create, share and take ownership of experiences.
Artificial intelligence-assisted and user-generated content systems will combine with Unreal Engine 5 to help players develop game logic, a press release announcing the news said.
Concept art for the video game AVALON, which raised $10 million in a fundraising round.
The release also suggested that a forthcoming NFT collection will introduce AI-powered avatar NFTs, a press release announcing the news said.
“The AVALON universe prioritizes delivering an immersive gameplay experience by combining cutting-edge tech like Unreal Engine 5 with AI-assisted user-generated content systems,” AVALON Founder and CEO Sean Pinnock said in the release. “Our focus on a no-code solution enables players to create game logic effortlessly.”
The studio includes industry veterans with experience on classic video games including Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed and EverQuest.
The round was led by BITKRAFT Ventures and HASHED, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Spartan Capital, Foresight Ventures, LiquidX, and Momentum6.
AVALON was founded in 2021 and powered by a hefty team that includes from industry-leading studios including Microsoft, Sony, Capcom, Infinity Ward, and Ubisoft.
In AVALON, the world will grow with and around players, featuring real-time interactions with non-player characters. The interactions will be powered through a partnership AVALON has forged with AI pioneers Didimo and Inworld AI.
Players will experience AVALON Core, the main gameplay mode designed by the studio, as well as separate, user-generated worlds and experiences, bringing their heroes, items, and progression across worlds.
AVALON leaders expect the game to go into a closed early access later this year. AVALON will “write the next chapter” in MMO games, said Baek Kim, HASHED general partner in a release.
“The team’s industry-leading experience is immediately evident in the title’s gameplay, graphical fidelity, and creative implementation of technology, economy, and owned content,” he said. “AVALON has a clear vision for a limitless and cohesive online experience, and we’re excited to see this title come to life.”
Central Florida’s VR/AR Association chapter might have unlocked on Thursday something that has been a missing piece of the Orlando tech industry’s recent surge in momentum.
As I popped my head in and out of sessions all day, I watched as leaders from the region sat on panels sharing expertise in widely disparate industries that all had tech in common.
Healthcare. Entertainment. Education.
It was enough variety to make my head spin.
Last week, we shared that local tech people were excited because the summit would give audiences – local and otherwise – a glimpse at what this community has to offer.
I will take that one step further: the summit could become the connective tissue that Orlando has needed to really grow the tech community exponentially and perhaps knock down some silos.
Look, there is nothing new in this column when it comes to our region’s expertise.
Health tech led by some healthcare industry giants.
A gaming community that has grown around Iron Galaxy and Electronic Arts, along with an EA-led gaming school.
A tech workforce worth claiming as our own that would give us a leg up when it comes to building companies in emerging technologies like, well, VR/AR.
Supportive startup community through initiatives like Starter Studio and Startup Weekend that tries to seed our future tech leaders.
Understand that this list only RIGHT NOW is getting to the defense industry-sized elephant in the community.
But what we should take from the Summit is what is possible when you put all of that together in one room.
As a tech and a business reporter for more than a decade, the word “serendipity” takes on new meaning.
It’s the idea that sometimes really good things happen by chance encounters.
But I have also thought for years that the beauty of tech ecosystems is that they create their own serendipity with these gatherings.
So, there is no doubt in my mind that people who had never met finally did so at the summit or the tech expo the next day.
It’s also likely that some of these will turn into new business ideas or new customer-vendor relationships sometime soon – if it hasn’t already.
Just listening to the conversations at lunch makes me confident that this will happen.
Informally, I have been comparing Orlando’s tech ecosystem to others across the state and regions I had covered tech in before on a semi-regular basis. It just happens when you are immersed, no pun intended.
Every time, it returned to the fact that I saw great things happening here but in silos.
If we can capture the energy of the Summit and target these silos with specific invitations, we can start to break down some of the silos and see how the tech ecosystem might take off like a rocket ship.
It wasn’t long after a stint in a Palo Alto, Calif., incubator with what was then a small, fresh Orlando startup Leasecake that Taj Adhav noticed something different this time around in business.
Adhav was about five years removed from one of Orlando’s most-successful tech exits ever, the $125 million acquisition by Google of Channel Intelligence, where Adhav was employee No. 8.
At the time, venture capitalists were firmly on the side of: “If we invest, you must move to Silicon Valley.” Ever since, however, that script has flipped.
“They said, ‘Go out to wherever you came from and build your company – investors will find you,'” he said.
They were right: Leasecake announced this week a $10 million extended Series A funding round led by Las Olas Venture Capital in Fort Lauderdale and PeakSpan Capital in New York.
“There’s now many capital sources in so many verticals and stages who believe in you, but they do need to find you,” Adhav said. “Please learn the market, because remember, they’re shopping for you too.”
We caught up with our old pal Adhav, whom we met when Leasecake was just a couple of days old, having just come out of a Startup Weekend in 2017.
Can you explain the feeling when you land this kind of investment?
It doesn’t just feel “good,” it feels empowering. I’m always inspired by those who believe in us. When you surround yourself with people smarter than yourself, who believe in what you started, it’s also humbling. Our team is made up of wonderful people of all skills and backgrounds. Some people remain outsiders along the way but support us and they, understandably, have their lives and sit on the sidelines and watch. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that! But our team is simply fantastic. They chose to join us from the beginning, recognizing that one simple idea can transform businesses to reduce risks and protect their hard-won locations, building their dreams, their empire and legacy, not just in North America, but globally. It reaffirms our team’s belief in why they joined me. Let’s face it, they made a bet, much like I made a bet on a basic question, “If everyone in business leases or owns a location, where’s the app for that?” We’re all astounded that after several years of founding Leasecake, there are multi-billion dollar organizations still on spreadsheets. That is until they see Leasecake and say, “Where have you been all my life?”
What has building Leasecake been like in the last couple of years?
We operated out of a small bungalow in Winter Park for some time. Yes. It was humbling just as the pandemic hit, and despite all the nay-sayers – “Taj, the market is going to crash, get ready!” – we saw the opposite. We grew, and grew. Companies from all over signed up. All types of business operators came on board and paid for our services in advance. It was perfect timing, because our team also needed to see the market start buying despite what the world was going through. It continued to validate our business model – we had 4.5 FTE’s for quite some time! I look back and treasure those days, as we learned so much listening to the market.
What is your take on Orlando tech, as someone who has been involved a while?
The talent pool and capital is 100 times better than it ever has been in Central Florida. Early investors bet on jockeys, the horses, and then the entire race, if I can use the analogy. The world has changed, and I encourage creators, inventors and entrepreneurs to be fearless. There’s now many capital sources in so many verticals and stages who believe in you, but they do need to find you – please learn the market, because remember, they’re shopping for you too! It takes humility and sheer will. Not everyone is cut out for it, but believe in yourself – and remember that ideas are better when shared. Share your ideas freely – they’ll get stronger. Keep your mind open to the “Impossible Opportunities,” and then have the discipline to focus, win a key customer base with product-market fit, build a team who trusts in each other and execute. The scariest part is that it sounds so easy.
What are some important elements of seeking investment?
Three things: Humility, ferocious curiosity and willpower. Always. Stay humble, learn, and always ask for advice. Never ask for money. Iterate your idea, take feedback, stay humble, ask questions, learn, pitch, ask for advice, iterate, take feedback. See the pattern? And failure is always welcome – if you learn from it.
If you want to be the smartest person in any room, chances are you won’t get the backing. And please be very selective with whom you invite as a capital partner.
I recall telling a VERY large investor, “You’re not ready for us and not the right fit.” I’ll never divulge who it was, but their reaction was telling, cementing my decision. Remember from above, investors initially bet on jockeys – those they trust with their money. They believe in you – it’s humbling. It’s your job to earn their trust, and continue to build on it. If you choose your investors well, they’ll help you beyond just money, they’ll open doors to take you to the next level you never even saw. These things will happen when you realize that you choose who will invest in you, too! And only if you ask for their advice.
The Orlando Science Center, naturally, was the place to be in Central Florida during the recent solar eclipse.
The facility sold solar eclipse viewing glasses along with a day’s admission on Monday, handing them out while hosting a series of workshops and events to teach its visitors.
Although Orlando was not in the “path of totality,” the region could see a 60 percent eclipse from 1:46 p.m. to 4:17 p.m.
The peak was at 3:03 p.m.
A 101-style workshop kicked off the day at the Science Center answering the question: “What is a solar eclipse?”
NASA experts then hosted a live stream that visitors could view at the Center’s café and Dr. Dare’s Lab had a full day of experiments.
In addition, the local hosts of the podcast “Are We There Yet?” were on hand, gathering questions for an astronaut that could be featured on a future broadcast.
Are you a military veteran in need of a partner to build your small tech business?
Well, in Central Florida, you have one of the best, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The Veterans Entrepreneurship Initiative was named Community Partner of the Year in northern Florida – and the entire state – by the SBA last week.
“Our goal has always been to help build our economy by giving veterans the tools they need to start and grow businesses throughout the state, creating thousands of jobs,” says Rafael Caamano, VEI’s executive director. “We are so honored to have this organization recognize the work our team has been doing for so many years.”
The VEI has been planning its 10th anniversary celebration next month.
“This year, we’ve seen an incredibly competitive field of nominees, each demonstrating the vital role small businesses play in job creation and economic growth in our region,’ SBA North Florida District Director Jonel Hein said in a release. ‘Our winners exemplify not just entrepreneurial excellence but also a deep commitment to strengthening our community through significant employment opportunities.”
Here are some milestones for VEI, which provides one-on-one coaching, seminars and intensive cohorts focus on key skills for entrepreneurs:
VEI launches out of University of Central Florida in 2013.
Goes independent in 2018.
More than 500 jobs with combined wages of $36.4 million in 2022 alone.
A two-day summit in Orlando will be a flex of the region’s strength in immersive technologies as much as it will be a place for the city’s tech community to gather, industry leaders said this week.
The VR/AR Association’s Central Florida contingent will bring its second Immersive Technology Summit to Full Sail University on Thursday and Friday.
Among the industries it will showcase are medical tech, digital twins and education technology.
“Orlando’s rise as a center for immersive tech presents a unique opportunity to assess its impact and potential,” said Innovate Orlando CEO David Adelson, who will lead a discussion about how immersive tech creates new opportunities for growth in Central Florida. “Panels like these serve to quantify this impact by gathering experts who can provide insights, data, and perspectives on the industry’s growth trajectory and its implications for the local economy.”
Orlando’s business community industry has leaned into its strength in technology ever since the city emerged from the coronavirus pandemic.
Events like the VRARA summit offer periodic check-ins for executives and experts who generally build on their own.
In addition, the events offer an opportunity to invite people from outside of the community to check out what’s happening here.
For example, San Francisco-based mixed reality expert Amy Peck will return as a keynote speaker.
That the event is happening shortly after programs from outside of Orlando like Plug and Play and RevRoad announced plans to launch here is significant, too, UCF Business Incubator Program director of programs and operations Carol Ann Dykes said.
“We have all been watching this (growth) happen slowly and build over time,” she said. “We have always been saying, ‘We’re almost there.’ The seeds that so many people have planted over the last decade in this community and worked so hard to plant externally have all started to come together here in this community.”
Is there such a thing as ‘perfect timing?’
The timing of the summit just happens to be perfect, said John Cunningham, the VRARA’s Orlando-based chief operating officer.
“We are at this inflection point where the industry needs these immersive technologies and we happen to have a solid group of capabilities that the companies need to leverage,” he said. “VRARA focuses on connecting people around technology. It’s not just about the tech but getting people in the business to connect to each other.”
The summit will bring officials from high-profile companies like HTC, Varjo and Magic Leap into Central Florida.
The idea is to make connections so that local business leaders, who will make up the vast majority of speakers and presenters, can have face time with them.
“They are coming to collaborate with leading local companies,” Cunningham said.
Among those singled out by Cunningham is 302 Interactive, a company building interactive experiences in downtown Orlando using emerging technologies, including virtual and augmented reality.
“Central Florida has been a great environment for us to build,” said CEO Kyle Morrand, who will lead sessions on immersive tech in entertainment. “The region has taken strides in becoming this central point for emerging technology that builds upon our long history in innovation that dates back to even before Walt Disney World launched and grew here. So, it makes sense to have this summit here.”
By spending two days with multiple tracks focused on specific industries, it can quantify the capabilities that exist in Central Florida, Dykes said.
“If you don’t understand the emerging technologies we have here, you can’t do economic development here effectively,” she said. “You can’t articulate a value proposition to bring companies here and you can’t support them if they are already here.”
That they happen to be some of the hottest industries in technology today is just a bonus, she said.
An Orlando edtech startup closed a $2 million seed funding round to bolster it’s AI-based course development technology.
PETE Learning will use the money to build more awareness of its learning platform. PETE Learning was cofounded by Stax Payments cofounder Jacques Fu.
Fu told OTN that he wanted PETE to serve as an example to others who build in Central Florida.
“It’s humbling. I am happy that I’m able to strengthen my ties to the Orlando community,” he said in an interview. “I’m thrilled to be an example. When you build a great company here, you can exit, invest locally and keep seeing the community grow.”
PETE enables organizations to provide personalized learning to a workforce using artificial intelligence. The range of courses vary by need, covering anything from onboarding to compliance, technical skills and more.
The platform also tracks a user’s progress.
What the investor is saying
“We’ve been thoroughly impressed with the sophistication of the PETE technical solution and the track record of this management team,” said Cofounders Capital Founding Partner David Gardner, in a press release. “The potential for AI to dramatically disrupt the corporate education space is something we have been following closely, and we have found the right tech and team to back in this space.”
Cofounders Capital, which is based in Cary, N.C., led the round, with angel investors from around Orlando also contributing.
A successful tech community often includes exited entrepreneurs spinning off and building new companies.
PETE becomes the latest example of that in Orlando.
Fu had been on the founding team that launched Fattmerchant, which became Stax.
Luis Garcia, former VP of Emerging Technologies at Full Sail University and founding executive of its online degree programs, said the investment from Cofounders Capital is more than just a financial play.
“Their extensive knowledge and experience in the (business-to-business, software-as-a-service) sector will drive us forward, refining our strategies and accelerating our growth trajectory,” he said in the release, calling the news “pivotal” for the company.
PETE launched in June. It has since been adopted as a training platform by Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College, among others.
There is more than one basketball team in town heading to the postseason.
As the NBA’s Orlando Magic jostle for position in the postseason, its gaming division, known as Magic Gaming, has already punched its ticket.
On the back of a point guard living up to his nickname, Joshua “unguardable” Hunter, Magic Gaming got hot this weekend.
The result was a run that ended with a championship in NBA 2K League’s SWITCH tournament.
The win brings with it $30,000. Magic Gaming’s point total for this year has earned a first-round bye in the postseason of the league’s 3v3 season.
NBA 2K League’s format in 2024 calls for a 3v3 and 5v5 season.
“It’s a great feeling to win for the Magic,” said Hunter, who was named tournament MVP. “Being able to win for the Magic has always been a goal of mine since I got here. We finally got the job done.”
Original 17 franchise
Magic Gaming was one of the NBA 2K League’s original 17 franchises in 2018. This is the first time the team has won a tournament that included all NBA 2K League franchises.
On their way to the title, Magic Gaming rattled off wins against NBA 2K League teams representing the Portland Trailblazers, Charlotte Hornets and Detroit Pistons.
They then took out a special bid team made up of non-NBA 2K League players before defeating the overall No. 2 seed Los Angeles Lakers Gaming and finishing it all off with a sweep of T-Wolves Gaming.
“I truly believe the Orlando Magic is one of the best organizations in all of sports,” Magic Gaming Head Coach Jonah Edwards said. “We are an organization that deserves to win. It is incredibly humbling. It’s so awesome to win for them as much as anything else.”
After the Lakers took Magic Gaming to a tiebreaker in the best of 5 series format, Orlando’s squad made relatively quick work of T-wolves Gaming.
They swept the final match 3-0, winning the games to 21 by an average of 10 points. The Magic came into the 32 team tournament as a 9 seed while the T-wolves were seeded at No. 18.
“We knew we were the better team,” said Ashton “LowKeyGodLike” Agredano. “We just had to lock in and trust each other; and we won.”
A brother-sister duo that produced one of Orlando’s highest-profile tech businesses in recent memory is off to a flying start with their next startup.
Worth AI cofounders Suneera Madhani and Sal Rehmetullah announced a strategic partnership Friday with Equifax. The Atlanta-based consumer credit reporting giant is one of the three largest in the world.
The partnership will make Equifax data on millions of U.S. businesses available to Worth AI. Worth uses artificial intelligence to produce more accurate risk assessments, quicker decisions and more standardized business credit scores assessing underwriting and risk management. The platform launches July 9.
“There is a sigh of relief but now the real work begins,” Rehmetullah told Orlando Tech News on Friday. “Like anything else, we need to go deliver on that promise.”
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, after reading a proclamation from the city, reminded those in attendance that the duo’s previous company started grew from a small startup 10 years ago to a unicorn-level company.
“In those same 10 years, our city has gone from an up-and-coming innovative ecosystem to becoming the MetaCenter of the Metaverse,” he said.
Madhani and Rehmetullah famously built their previous business Stax nee Fattmerchant to unicorn status in Orlando. Last month, they announced Worth AI.
“We love solving problems and this is a huge problem that we had in our space and it’s important to solve,” Madhani said.
In a statement released earlier in the day, Madhani said teaming with companies like Equifax will help Worth become make a bigger impact.
“Aligning Equifax’s data solutions with the Worth AI platform will speed the process of securing unbiased lines of credit for businesses that are equitable,” she said.
Statistics show that large banks approve less than 20 percent of small business loan applications. Worth AI aims to improve that number through AI technology that expands the factors used to calculate credit scores, resulting in a new metric: The Worth Score.
Equifax Senior VP Partnerships Melinda McBride said in Orlando on Friday that she was impressed by the enthusiasm she saw from the tech community. Equifax partnered with Worth because the company felt their data could contribute to the startup’s journey, she said.
“When you are tackling hard problems, it’s great to have a community behind you,” she said. “Small business is the engine and lifeblood of the economy.”
“Joining forces with Equifax enables us to take advantage of the highly credible and reliable data the company is known for,” Rehmetullah said. “We are extremely confident our new offering will improve the credit climate for small businesses by providing creditors with the accurate, reliable and insightful data they need to make informed decisions and minimize risk.”
Orlando Economic Partnership President and CEO Tim Giuliani said Madhani and Rehmetullah’s success could have a ripple effect on the community.
“Successful tech companies have an ability to spark new tech companies,” he said. “It’s a fantastic example of founders that take advantage of the resources we have here and succeed.”
As Madhani and Rehmetullah started to explore their next idea, they landed on equity in business loans.
Although they spent time between businesses, Madhani said there was rarely a doubt they would return.
“There is a reason why there is serial entrepreneurship,” Madhani said. “We love solving problems and this is a huge problem that we had in our space … to drive true financial equity for all. We’re on a mission to go solve that.”
