Miami Hack Week aims to show Miami’s tech momentum more than hype
If there were any doubts the momentum of Miami’s tech movement was slowing, the upcoming Miami Hack Week should put them to bed.
About 1,000 attendees are expected to participate in the slew of events planned for Jan. 23-30. The week will feature giant global technology, energy and financial sector investor SoftBank and startup venture backer Atomic as co-sponsors. At least two SoftBank portfolio companies, Lula and QuickNode, are among those hosting at the overall 30 hacker houses, where engineers work off of prompts to design software solutions for real-world problems.
For Miami Hack Week spokesperson and South Florida native Vanessa Calás, the week is another sign there is more to Miami’s burgeoning technology industry than hype.
“I understand the skepticism,” Calás said. “I grew up down here, and have been in the South Florida tech scene for the past eight years — it’s never been quite like this. A lot of things are happening, a lot of companies are moving here.”
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez donated $50,000 to the effort on behalf of his Venture Miami tech-focused business support group.
“Our contribution to Miami Hack Week is a no-brainer,” Suarez said in a statement, noting it “falls right in line with my mission to support and develop our local talent pool but moreover, it’s what Venture Miami was created to do: bridge connections between new to market entities and Miami’s native ecosystem.”
The Shrimp Society, a local group setting out to build an innovation ecosystem in Miami and beyond, is also hosting a hacker house. Shrimp Society co-founder Chris Daniels said more than 100 individuals applied to join the hacker house his group is sponsoring.
He acknowledged many are from out of town.
“Now great talent wants to get out of the cities they’re in, for whatever reasons, and come to Miami for our lifestyle,” Daniels said. “They see the tech scene here, and want to join.”
There is a different mindset among those interested in moving to South Florida, he said. Some have called it libertarian — or at least, less-than-liberal. Daniels referred to the number of entrepreneurs hailing from countries opposed to free-market ideologies as a hallmark not only of Miami but Miami tech.
“There’s more of a diversity of background, lifestyle and thought; in San Francisco, it kind of felt like everyone just had one mindset, and you couldn’t deviate from that,” he said.
“Here people have such different backgrounds — there are entrepreneurs from Venezuela, Canada, Russia, Silicon Valley — all have different perspective and key insights from their culture or experience. And because of that, they’re already thinking global, because their founding team is international.”
Henry Urite is among those who became a Miami resident after attending last summer’s Miami Hack Week. A Philadelphia native, Urite said he simply was looking for a break from work when he applied to join a hacker house. Besides making fast friends once he arrived, Urite got a job offer from Lula that convinced him to come down once the week ended.
“I think the more events there are like this, and the more companies and more innovation that keeps spawning out of Miami, it’s slowly just keep aggregating more talent,” Urite said.
More information at MiamiHackWeek.com. Registration ends Jan. 15.
Ingram Micro Cloud hiring 200
Ingram Micro Cloud, a global cloud computing service marketplace and division of global tech leader Ingram Micro, is expanding in Miami and looking to fill about 200 positions. These include roles in sales, customer support, marketing and cloud engineering. The hiring event will take place from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. EST Jan. 18 at Topgolf Doral, 11850 NW 22nd St.
Ingram Micro Cloud’s Miami office is now located at the Beacon Centre office park west of Miami International Airport, but the company hopes to expand its local footprint.
“As a growing technology hub, Miami is an extremely attractive market for Ingram Micro Cloud,” John Dusett, the firm’s executive director of cloud services, said in a statement. “Miami’s rich talent pool and world-class universities are great resources for finding individuals eager to start a career in high tech. Additionally, Miami is a dynamic, diverse city which fits well with Ingram Micro Cloud’s vast multicultural employee and client network.”
More information can be found at careers.ingrammicro.com.
German firm picks Miami as North American base
1NCE, a rate provider for IoT software, announced at the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show, held in Las Vegas Jan. 5 to 8, that it had selected Miami for its North American base of operations. The company, headquartered in Cologne, Germany, was founded in 2017. Ivo Rook, chief operating officer for 1NCE, also will be North America president.
1NCE has secured $50 million from multiple investors including SoftBank and Deutsche Telekom to pay for expansion in the United States and Asia. The company said it identified Miami as its North American hub through a nationwide search.
The company plans to start looking for a permanent location for 100 to 150 employees it plans to hire locally within three years.
Correction: In an earlier version of this story, the date of the upcoming Ingram Micro Cloud hiring event was misstated. It’s slated for 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Jan. 18 at Topgolf Doral, 11850 NW 22nd St.
This story was originally published January 9, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
