Florida Venture Capital Insights 1H 2025 (eMerge Americas)

Summary

• Startups throughout Florida attracted $2.85 billion across 270 deals in the first half of 2025, ranking 6th in the nation for deal value and 5th by number of VC deals.p.5
• South Florida drew $2.02 billion across 161 deals, while Orlando attracted $399 million across 34 deals.p.5
• In the US as a whole, $169 billion in VC was invested across 7,900 deals in the first half of 2025.p.10
• Fintech and healthtech, with 56 and 51 deals respectively, made up 40% of the deals statewide, and 88 of the 274 startups that raised VC (33%) include AI as a key vertical.p.11
• Fintech attracted $691M across 38 deals in South Florida, 34% of South Florida VC dollars, up from 27% in 2024, with an average deal size of $18.2M.p.17
• Web3 startups in the Miami area attracted $243 million across 16 rounds, with an average deal size of $15.2M, up from $9.1M in 2024.p.19
• In Q2, PitchBook reported 19 exits with a combined value of $5.41 billion across Florida, compared with $325 million across 39 exits in all of 2024.p.21

Key insights

1. The top Florida deal of the first half was Flex at $225 million, followed by CAST AI at $108 million.p.8
2. ReliaQuest's $500 million raise was not counted in the totals because it was a private equity round.p.5
3. South Florida represented 71% of the deal value and 60% of the deals across the state.p.15
4. Medtech drew just $142 million across 22 deals in South Florida in the first half, 7% of dollars versus 21% in 2024.p.18
5. 44 AI companies in South Florida were funded in the first half of 2025, with $830M in funding and an average deal size of $18.9M.p.20
6. The top exit of Q2 was Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute at $2.5 billion, followed by Slide Insurance at $1.84 billion.p.21
7. Embarc Collective's member companies have achieved a 96% five-year survival rate.p.12