Tampa Bay Wave’s LatinTech 2023 Accelerator Cohort Kicks Off During Global Entrepreneurs Week

Tampa Bay Wave, in partnership with the Tampa Bay Latin Chamber of Commerce, is thrilled to announce the kickoff of its inaugural LatinTech Accelerator cohort.

TAMPA, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES, November 16, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ — Tampa Bay Wave, in partnership with the Tampa Bay Latin Chamber of Commerce, is thrilled to announce the kickoff of its inaugural LatinTech Accelerator cohort. Coinciding with Global Entrepreneurs Week, this landmark 90-day accelerator began the week of November 13th, with a series of significant events highlighting the vibrant entrepreneurial spirit within the Tampa Bay area.

“The LatinTech Accelerator aims to empower entrepreneurs of Latin heritage, a group historically underrepresented in the tech sector,” explains Tampa Bay Wave CEO Linda Olson. “We are proud to launch this innovative startup accelerator program, which received a $500,000 federal grant championed by U.S. Representative Kathy Castor and powered by the U.S. Small Business Administration.”

“The inaugural LatinTech cohort continues the trend of strong founders solving real problems matriculating into the Tampa Bay Wave. Applications were received from startups throughout the United States and abroad, and the final companies chosen for the program stand out,” said Dr. Richard Munassi, Tampa Bay Wave Accelerator Managing Director. “The founders of the Wave’s newest companies come from multiple countries throughout the world, including the United States, Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, and Uruguay. They are serial entrepreneurs, have had exits, are engineers, physicians, attorneys, hold PhDs, and are professors at universities,” he added. “They come from some of the world’s top companies and universities, including Google, Meta, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, Mars, Unilever, Lockheed Martin, Moderna, Novartis, Cisco, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard, Qualcomm, Red Bull, Deloitte, BBVA, Samsung, Lyft, Apple, the NIH, Netflix, Fox, Disney, Foley & Lardner, Ernst & Young, Northwestern, Brown, MIT, Duke, the University of Florida, Georgia Tech, and Emory, They hold patents and have won awards from Forbes, MIT, and Facebook/META, and they are graduates from Techstars, Google, and Amazon’s Accelerator programs. This is, without a doubt, one of the strongest classes of founders and startups we have had in Tampa Bay.”

The 2023 cohort features a diverse range of innovative companies:

Allergood (Durham, NC) – A solution that filters food service menus for allergens and dietary preferences.
www.allergood.com
Founder(s): Michelle Addison

Ancestral Tech (Arica, Chile) – Enhancing agricultural projections with precision agronomy technology.
www.ancestraltech.com
Founder(s): Patricio Arias, Ricardo Garcia, Christian Fuentealba

Coco Digital (Colombia) – Transforming healthcare access and care management across LATAM.
www.cocodigital.co
Founder(s): Robert Zuluaga, Jonathan Pulgarin

Davinci Wearables (Sunnyvale, CA) – A wearable health and wellness solution for active females, integrating with third-party tools, to drive peak performance.
www.davinciwearables.com
Founder(s): Christy Fernandez-Cull, Belen Fralie, Edward Betancourt

H+Trace (Miami, FL) – AI logistics management platform for healthcare and F&B.
www.H-trace.com
Founder(s): Javier Cuello, Ivan Farjdoume

Hitch (Mexico City, Mexico) – SaaS HR platform for end-to-end, autonomous recruitment, including skills assessment and onboarding.
www.hello.gethitch.ai
Founder(s): Daniel Pardo, Jose Miguel Arreola

Keybe (Miami, FL) – A B2B SaaS leveraging Gen AI for sales optimization.
www.keybe.ai
Founder(s): Samuel Urquijo, Daniel Jokka, Juan Esteben Rios, Victor Catalan, Felipe Jaramillo

Miss Berni (Santiago, Chile) – Recruitment of LATAM teachers for U.S. schools.
www.missberni.com
Founder(s): Ismael Villanueva, Bernardita Sanchez, Juan Sarabia, Fernanda Sanchez

Nufi (Monterrey, Mexico) – Streamlining Mexico’s background and ID verification.
www.nufi.mx
Founder(s): Hans Villa, Ilich Nunez

OTIF (Monterrey, Mexico) – Platform for supply chain visibility and integration.
www.otif.mx
Founder(s): Pamela Villarreal, Hector Antonio Cardenas

Prosal (Miami, FL) – B2B SaaS platform for agencies to find and win RFPs.
www.prosal.io
Founder(s): Nick Lopez, Alfredo Ramirez, Nyle Malik

TELL (Montevideo, Uruguay) – AI-driven speech analysis for brain health assessments.
https://tellapp.org/
Founder(s): Fernando Johann, Adolfo Garcia

Videomart (Los Angeles, CA) – A blockchain-powered video-on-demand marketplace.
www.videomart.club
Founder(s): Moises Zamora, Ivon Rodriguez, Fernando Ferro

WAS CO (Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico) – Innovative, sustainable building materials.
www.wascompany.com
Founder(s): Walter Mata

Zaia (São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil) – No-code platform infusing Generative AI in sales and customer support.
www.zaia.app
Founder(s): Alexandre Messina, Tiago Morelli, Jose Camargo, Andre Bassi

The program kickoff week features two key events. On November 15th, there was a panel discussion featuring alumni Tampa Bay Wave LatinTech founders, offering insights and inspiration to the new cohort. The following evening, November 16th, the Tampa Bay community welcome reception provides an opportunity for networking and celebration among the cohort, advisors, and community members.

In addition to the guidance, mentorship, connections and investor readiness education from the Tampa Bay Wave staff and mentor network, an esteemed group of advisors will also provide guidance and mentorship:

Ana Cruz (Ballard Partners) – Managing Partner
Andre Toaldo (Ex-Google, Investor & Board Member) – Finance Operations
Cesar R. Hernandez (Omni Public) – CEO, Tampa Bay Latin Chamber Board Chair
Daniel F. Martinez, III (Florida Business Development Corporation) – Vice President
Daniel McDonald (LMCU) – SBA Loan Officer
Danielle M. Alvarez (Accenture) – Managing Director
Jared Rodriguez (Mad Mobile) – CTO
Javier Marin (City of Tampa) – Director of Economic Opportunity
Jose Bello (Encore Bank) – VP, Community Outreach Officer
Julio Esquivel (Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick) – Partner
Karen Perez (Hillsborough County) – School Board Member
Lina Teixeira (City of Clearwater) – Council Member Seat 5
Lisset Hanewicz (City of St. Petersburg) – Council Member District 4
Melissa Morin (USF) – Director, Corporate Partnerships
Michael Flores (J.P. Morgan) – Executive Director, Private Banker
Nancy Millan (Hillsborough County) – Tax Collector
Santiago Corrada (Visit Tampa Bay) – President & CEO
Yvette Segura (Yvette Segura Consulting) – President

These advisors will offer their wealth of experience and networks to support the startups in the program.

For more information about the LatinTech Accelerator and upcoming programs, please visit https://www.tampabaywave.org/latin-tech/