🌊 A rising tide of BlueTech in Miami, led by local and global Sea Change Makers
A look at how support for BlueTech entrepreneurs can serve as a critical pillar for Miami’s designation as a global ClimateTech Hub
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This newsletter was written by Daniel Kleinman, Founder and CEO of Seaworthy Collective. Register for their 2024 startup showcase here.Join Opportunity Miami x Miami-Dade County for our 11th Climate Tech Meetup on June 10th at 10 AM: Introducing Climate Innovation from Chile to Miami. Register here.
What depths would you go to follow your passion and inspire others to do the same? In 2012, James Cameron made a solo dive into the deepest part of the ocean, the Challenger Deep in the Marianas Trench; only the second successful manned mission to this extreme environment (and the first since the 1950s), that highlighted how little we know about our blue planet - more than 75% of the oceans remain unexplored.
As a native ocean-loving South Floridian, I always wanted to find a way to connect my career to positively serving our seas – Earth’s greatest absorber of heat and carbon. James Cameron’s dive inspired my career in marine robotics, which introduced me to the incredible potential for technology and innovation for ocean and impact, yet was primarily limited to defense applications that were a microcosm of larger barriers to making an impact.
Overarching social and economic factors to this include:
Oceanographic research (academia and public sector) is severely underfunded; UN Sustainable Development Goal #14, Life Below Water, is the least funded at just 0.01% of the total funding for the SDGs.
Meanwhile, in the private sector, a landmark 2021 study called The Ocean 100 detailed how the fossil fuel and defense industries comprise the majority of the top 100 companies that collectively make up over 60% of the ocean economy, known as the blue economy; driving innovation that primarily ignores or furthers exploitation.
Finally, within the marine sciences, academia has perpetuated siloed career paths; leading students to pursue limited opportunities in either the public sector or research, where the number of people with degrees continues to outpace the number of available jobs.
A PATHWAY TO THE BLUE ECONOMY
The greatest barriers to solving climate change and marine degradation aren’t technical. Instead, they are barriers to opportunity, implementation, and collaboration for people, solutions, and regions. South Florida has a unique opportunity to build a pathway to the New Blue Economy that is not beholden to entrenched interests that dominate other corners of the country. This led me to launch Seaworthy Collective in 2020, a Miami-based nonprofit entrepreneur support organization and community empowering founders driving innovation for ocean and climate impact (aka BlueTech).
Our mission is to make BlueTech accessible and inclusive, bringing all hands on deck via programs for startups as well as community building and education. We empower Sea Change Makers – current, aspiring, and underrepresented startup founders across diverse backgrounds and impact areas. From addressing pollution to coastal resilience and adaptation, as well as greenhouse gas reduction and removal, our local and global community is driving innovation for 71% of the planet (our ocean) to regenerate 100% of the planet.
You can watch or hear more about our work in this Opportunity Miami interview on our work with ocean solutions, going beyond traditional philanthropic restoration.
To date, some of the highlights Seaworthy Collective has accomplished include:
Amassing a global network of more than 2,400 members, 250 mentors and collaborators, and investors with over $1 billion in combined assets.
Seaworthy’s community programs, including the Climate Happy Hour and Sea Change Makers Panel Series, have educated more than 4,000 people over three years. Seaworthy’s startup programs, with its flagship Startup Studio and Incubator, have supported 33 startups and 67 founders since 2021, including local success stories like Kind Designs and Algas Organics.
Seaworthy founders have raised over $8 million since graduating (and counting).
Seaworthy is intentional about supporting underrepresented founders, with 67% of program participants identifying as female and/or diverse founders (BIPOC and/or LGBTQ+).
Regionally, we actively support collaborative efforts for growing the overall ClimateTech ecosystem from the ClimateReady Tech Hub in Miami to Opportunity Miami.
We’ve been honored with Prince Albert II of Monaco’s Prize for Innovative Philanthropy, recognizing our global impact.
Since the beginning of last year, Seaworthy Collective has won 4 federal grants, bringing over $500,000 in regional ecosystem development support from the Department of Energy, Small Business Administration, and most recently the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). We are currently competing for an additional $15 million as part of Phase 2 of the NOAA Ocean-based Climate Resilience Accelerators, with BlueTech industry-leading partners from across the country.
We've also partnered with corporate philanthropic leaders such as Salesforce, who together with our federal support, fund scholarships for BlueTech founders to be able to receive support from Seaworthy at no cost to them (no equity or fees).
Altogether, federal support and corporate philanthropy have enabled us to support four cohorts of startups over the past three years, with our Spring startup showcase coming up on May 23rd at Ampersand Studios celebrating and elevating the work of our latest Sea Change Makers (Seaworthy Founders).
The latest cohort includes four South Florida-based companies:
🌸 Phytoflora by Green Thumb Strategies (Miami, FL) - A dual initiative by Dr. Jazmin Locke-Rodriguez PhD and Ivan Rodriguez, employing floating farms for water remediation and sustainable agriculture.
💰 Igugu Global (Miami, FL) - Founded by Anele Bloch (née Makhwaza), this climate fintech startup aims to bridge Africa's $1.5 trillion sustainable infrastructure funding gap.
🪵 Sargassum Eco Lumber (Homestead, FL) - Raquel De Antonio Crespo and Andres de Antonio Simancas' venture turns Sargassum seaweed and recycled plastics into eco-friendly lumber.
🥤StrawFish® (Boca Raton, FL) - Aaron Kleinert, Kyle Lansing, and Tomer Bitton's answer to single-use plastic, offering biodegradable alternatives.
Register for the event here and use code “MiamiTime” to get your tickets at early bird prices.
THE BILLION-DOLLAR OPPORTUNITY IN BLUETECH
Globally, the Blue Economy is expected to double in market size by 2030 from $1.5 trillion yearly to $3.0 trillion. We’ve seen a microcosm of this growth regionally, with the rapid development of the local BlueTech and ClimateTech ecosystem in just the past three years; from only 20-30% of startups in our first and second cohorts coming from South Florida, to now having a majority of startup participants from our region between our third and fourth cohorts.
This regional representation is still just the beginning of the building wave of innovators locally and globally needed to collectively reverse climate change & marine degradation, from South Florida and beyond.
CLIMATE TECH MEETUP
To further expand the conversation on climate tech, please join Opportunity Miami and Miami-Dade County for our 11th meetup at The Beacon Council. In partnership with ProChile, the meetup will feature companies from Chile in the climate tech sector looking to expand into the U.S. market. Register here.
PITCH US
If you have a company or entrepreneur to suggest or an idea to share that relates to building Miami’s future, email us at next@opportunity.miami. We invite you to subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on our social media channels. If you were forwarded this newsletter, you can subscribe by clicking here. And if you are new to Opportunity Miami, you can learn about our mission and work here.
Hope to hear from you.
– Opportunity Miami
