An Orlando tech company has partnered with Tampa General Hospital to provide first-in-the-nation emergency supply deliveries via drones starting next month.
Archer First Response Systems will deploy its drones carrying an automated external defibrillator, NARCAN Nasal Spray and a tourniquet through a 9-1-1 dispatcher.
The dispatcher will walk the 9-1-1 caller through the application needed while emergency vehicles are en route.
The range will cover a 35-square-mile area of Manatee County. Drone-based delivery is expected to cut response time to those suffering cardiac arrest to around 2 minutes, depending on the specific delivery location.
The program will begin with a 12-month evaluation period to determine how the tech can be used across the state. That program will launch May 1.
ArcherFRS CEO Gordon Folkes said the company is committed to using next-gen tech to save lives.
“Sudden cardiac arrest, opioid overdose and trauma impact hundreds of thousands of people in the United States each year; there is a real need for a paradigm shift in the treatment and response to these time-critical emergencies,” he said. “We are excited, together with Manatee County Public Safety and Tampa General Hospital, to redefine what is possible and raise the bar when it comes to cardiac arrest, overdose and trauma response.”
Initially, the company will serve a 3.5-square-mile area of coverage Monday through Friday during daylight hours. However, the goal is to expand that coverage area to 35 square miles, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week with further approvals form the FAA.
“Through the use of technology and innovation, Tampa General Hospital is transforming health care,” said John Couris, president and CEO of TGH. “We’re excited to see this vision come to life. With the ability to measure the impact of this program on the community, we can determine how the technology can be used in more scalable, reproducible ways for the broader benefit of our state.”
Manatee County leaders said being in on a first-of-its-kind program illustrates its forward-thinking approach.
“This is an amazing opportunity to be on the cutting edge of technology in emergency response,” said Manatee County Board of County Commissioners Chair Mike Rahn. AEDs are used to respond to individuals experiencing sudden cardiac arrest.
Each year, 350,000 people in the United States experience a cardiac arrest outside the hospital and only 10% survive. NARCAN Nasal Spray can prevent death in the event of overexposure to opioids. Last year, more than 112,000 Americans died from opioid-related exposure.
The tourniquet is used to apply pressure and stop blood loss for individuals with trauma-related injuries. Any 9-1-1 caller in the coverage area that uses the equipment will benefit from the drone delivery at no cost to them.
“Our team has diligently worked with the FAA to ensure strict adherence to safety standards for the deployment of life-saving equipment via drones within the Manatee County community,” said Jason Swoboda, director of innovation at Tampa General Hospital.
A partnership with Orlando’s two professional soccer clubs could put local tech startup PETE Learning on a roll.
On Game Day, hundreds of workers show up at the stadium, ready to provide customer service for the thousands of fans who click through the ticket turnstiles.
They scan tickets. Field complaints.
Help guide the wave of Orlando City Soccer Club and Orlando Pride fans to their destinations.
However, this crucial workforce often attends a one-day workshop then awaits their assigned game to come back into the stadium. With PETE Learning, education can be constant and consistent.
“It was important that they expand customer service training to the rest of the team in an efficient way,” PETE cofounder Luis Garcia told Orlando Tech News. “Creating a digital course allows them to constantly, as they bring in new people, train them quickly.”
The platform will also introduce tracking of learning for individuals.
PETE enables organizations to provide personalized learning to a workforce using artificial intelligence.
Jarrod Dillon of Orlando City and Orlando Pride said that element was an “exciting step forward” for the clubs.
“Partnering with a forward-thinking Orlando-based company like PETE allows us to tap into innovative tools that expand our training capabilities and drive our organization’s success,” said Dillon, the teams’ president of business operations, in a press release. “We’re thrilled about this partnership and look forward to its positive impact.”
The partnership essentially creates a virtual academy using up-to-date content for trainees to learn.
“Their core team is small but on Game Day, they welcome hundreds of workers who come in,” Garcia said.
The partnership with a sports franchise sets the stage for PETE Learning to potentially pursue other sports-related deals while also thinking local, Garcia said.
“Not only does it underscore our commitment to local community engagement, but it also showcases our platform’s versatility in empowering organizations across diverse industries,” he said. “We are excited to embark on this journey with our home soccer clubs.”
A pair of Orlando firms has landed a defense contract seeking a simulator for obstetric emergencies in the military.
Orlando-based Knight Federal Solutions and SIMETRI announced the award on Monday. Terms of the deal were not shared.
However, an online database for the Defense Health Agency, under which the contract was awarded, listed an estimated value of $13 million for a similar contract.
SIMETRI provides realistic mannequins that provide training opportunities for the military.
The military’s COES2 program provides cutting-edge training for prenatal healthcare personnel.
COES, which stands for Complicated Obstetrical Emergency Simulation, reduces life-threatening risks to mothers and newborns.
Under terms of the Defense Health Agency deal, the firms will provide simulation-based obstetric training to 49 military inpatient facilities worldwide for the Military Health System, which provides services and benefits to military active-duty personnel, retirees and their families.
The deal is expected to include a five-year period of service and support to the program.
“In collaboration with SIMETRI, we are excited to support the mission of enhancing the skills of military medical personnel, ultimately leading to improved patient care and safety,” said Chris Baeten, CEO of Knight Federal Solutions, in a press release.
Angela M. Alban, President and CEO of SIMETRI, added: “Our partnership with Knight Federal on the COES2 project allows us to leverage our expertise to deliver high-quality, evidence-based training that makes a real difference. We are thrilled to continue providing advanced medical training for the Warfighter.”
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.
