In the lead-up to Labor Day weekend, last week was a big news week for #MiamiTech, starting with mega exit news for a Miami-based founder:
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Congratulations to Clem Delangue!
Unless you were under a rock, you already know the biggest news of the past week: The confirmation that Nvidia is buying Hugging Face for $12.93 billion. That means Hugging Face’s founder and CEO Clem Delangue can take a bit of R&R.
While Hugging Face is not a Miami-based company, serial entrepreneur Delangue calls Miami home. Hugging Face has a remote-first workforce with HQ offices in Paris and New York and a small presence in Miami we hope will continue to grow! Delangue is also an active angel investor.
Delangue said Nvidia has committed to “strongly supporting Hugging Face and our mission while keeping the platform open, independent and compute agnostic. The founders and the team are all staying to keep pushing this mission forward.”
Added Delangue in his LinkedIn post: “Together, we think we can make open source the default way to build AI, with the goal of empowering 100 million AI builders to own their intelligence rather than rent it. Excited about the next 10 years!”
And if that wasn’t enough, there was more big news last week. Before we continue, don’t miss the Nu news and all these Refresh Miami headlines from the past week:
- Major expansion news: Brazil-based digital bank Nu prepares to start US operations, building from its US headquarters in South Florida
- Recent startup fundraises: Félix raises $200 million to bring loans and savings to WhatsApp
- PRIMA raises $5M to turn hot tables into a referral business
- Flamingo flies forward with $4.5M and plans to grow in Miami
- TrustedRouter lands $1.25M to build a private gateway to AI
- More exit news: WellStack acquires DeLorean AI, plans to grow platform and South Florida footprint
- More news and spotlights: Top AIG exec to join Palantir to lead global financial services
- FIU student startup PolarDoc named global Hult Prize finalist for preterm birth technology
- Inside OpenSeed’s plan to bring calm back to work, 12 minutes at a time
- IOScholarships’ free platform matches applicants to funding, aims to help minorities enter colleges, tech-jobs
- Search has a new answer, and Specularis wants Miami businesses in it
- Humanoid robots to clean your house? Faireez now offers people for housekeeping, as it collects data to train robots
- And much more paywall-free #MiamiTech news here!
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NextEra, Dominion shareholders approve $66.8B merger
In a step closer to a partnership that will create one of the world’s largest electric utilities during an expansion of data centers to support AI, Dominion Energy’s shareholders approved the utility’s previously announced $66.8 billion merger with Palm Beach County-based NextEra Energy, owner of Florida Power & Light Co., at a special meeting last week.
The merger will speed up NextEra’s efforts to construct the infrastructure for hyperscale data center developments. Virginia-based Dominion already serves the largest concentration of data centers globally.
The companies had announced their plan to merge in May, and the deal, which is still pending regulatory approvals, will create the third-biggest U.S. energy company, behind oil majors Exxon Mobil and Chevron, and an entity with an enterprise value topping the next two largest U.S. power companies combined.
“We have reached an important milestone in the proposed combination of NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy. Today, shareholders of both companies approved the proposed combination, marking an important step toward bringing our companies together,” NextEra Energy CEO John Ketchum told company employees.
After the deal closes, not expected until 2027, Ketchum would serve as chairman and CEO of the combined company. Dominion CEO Robert Blue would serve as president and CEO of regulated utilities and as a board member. The combined business would keep dual headquarters in Juno Beach and Richmond, and an operational headquarters in Cayce, South Carolina.
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Space-Eyes to acquire major U.S. Navy engineering contractor
Space-Eyes, a provider of next-generation geospatial intelligence and AI-enabled technologies for defense, security and enterprise operations worldwide, recently announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire KMS Solutions, an engineering services company headquartered in Virginia. KMS specializes in Navy in-service and developmental systems, components and payloads and providing cradle-to-grave engineering and lifecycle support for the U.S. Navy.
“Space-Eyes has spent several years building an AI-driven technology platform designed to help customers detect, understand and respond to increasingly complex threats,” said Capt. Jatin Bains, CEO and founder of Miami-based Space-Eyes. “KMS would add highly complementary capabilities: decades of Navy engineering experience, mission knowledge and lifecycle-support expertise. We believe the combination with KMS will create a stronger defense technology platform bringing together innovative software and AI capabilities with the engineering discipline and operational understanding required to address real-world defense requirements. Importantly, KMS will give us experienced people who understand the Navy environment.”
The transaction is subject to the completion of its proposed merger with McKinley Acquisition Corp. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Space-Eyes and McKinley Acquisition Corp. this summer announced they have entered into a definitive business combination agreement that was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both Space-Eyes and McKinley and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions. Upon closing, the combined company will be named Space-Eyes, Inc., and its common stock is expected to be listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol CUAS.
Miami-based Space-Eyes delivers AI-driven, sensor-agnostic Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS) that detect, track, identify, and mitigate unauthorized and hostile drones across critical infrastructure, military installations, borders, and mass-gathering venues. Space-Eyes is now scaling from prototype deployments into large-scale, sole-source production contracts. The Geospatial Intelligence and Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS) market is projected to continue its growth driven by increasing demand for AI-enabled defense systems, expanding deployment of satellites, and rising demand for high-frequency, multi-sensor data collection across defense and enterprise applications.
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Mana Tech, VC firm Monashees partner up to connect ecosystems
Miami-based Mana Tech and Monashees, a prominent venture capital firm in Latin America, have joined forces to build new pathways for Latin American companies looking to expand into the U.S. and for Miami companies looking to connect with one of the strongest startup ecosystems in the region, the organizations announced. The partnership has been taking shape over the past months. Representing Mana Tech, Moishe Mana, Charly Esnal and Conrado Morais recently signed an MOU with Monashees formalizing a strategic partnership.
As part of this partnership, Mana Tech will become Monashees’ preferred Miami ecosystem partner, working with selected portfolio companies as they explore the U.S. market and helping them navigate the ecosystem through access to customers, investors, corporations, talent, workspace and the broader network of connections that Miami has to offer. 🌴 🚀
Mana Tech and Monashees will also identify investment opportunities together and build a recurring pipeline of companies where both organizations can contribute beyond capital, combining Monashees’ experience supporting ambitious companies across Latin America with Mana Tech’s ability to connect founders to the Miami and U.S. ecosystems. Monashees recently launched GAMA House, powered by Monashees, Google for Startups and B3 in São Paulo, and the new partners will also explore ways to connect Gama House with Miami through founder residencies and programming.
“For Mana Tech, this represents an important evolution in what we are building. We started by creating connections between Miami and Latin America, bringing founders, investors, corporations and ecosystem leaders together across borders. With Monashees, we are taking that a step further by building a deeper, more direct relationship with the companies moving through that bridge and creating opportunities for them to grow, raise capital, enter new markets and build meaningful connections on both sides,” Mana Tech said its LinkedIn announcement.
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Mark Cuban Foundation’s AI Bootcamp for high schoolers coming to MDC and West Palm
Miami Dade College is once again partnering with the Mark Cuban Foundation to host the AI Bootcamp for high school students. The bootcamp will be expanding this year with two locations – the AI Centers at North Campus and Kendall Campus. No prior coding or technical experience is required, just curiosity and a drive to explore how artificial intelligence is shaping our world.
MDC’s free bootcamp will take place over three consecutive Saturdays: October 31, November 7, and November 14.
Student requirements, guidelines, and application are available here.
In addition, Cox Science Center & Aquarium in West Palm Beach and Palm Beach State College will also host a free bootcamp the same dates. Find out more here.
For both camps, the application deadline is Sept. 30.
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Jobs, jobs, jobs
Chewy – Customer Service Instructional Designer
Clai – Sr AI Engineer
Clai – VP of Growth
ClaimsHero – Growth Strategy Manager
eMed – Partner Marketing Manager
eMed – Sr Data Analyst, Marketing
Iru – IT Engineer
Lennar – Project Manager I
Mythical Labs – Marketing Operations & Data Manager
ResQ – AI Product Designer
Smartbarrel – Product Designer
Vultr – Provisioning Engineer
Find more opportunities on Refresh Miami’s job board here.
PLUS
Opportunity knocks
- SPARC South Florida is back. It’s South Florida’s regional competition for the global Startup World Cup, where the grand prize is a cool $1 million at the world finals in San Francisco. The competition is open to South Florida founders across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Finalists in the local round will pitch in September. The winner of the local contest till compete in SF in October. But you can’t win if you don’t enter. Learn more and apply by Sept. 13 (deadline extended) at SparcSouthFlorida.com.
- eMerge Americas’ SMB Growth Lab, powered by JPMorganChase + Momentum Miami, helps Miami-Dade small and medium-sized businesses embrace digital transformation and unlock sustainable growth. Last year the cohort grew from 30 to 61 SMBs, and the results followed: new customers, new revenue, and connections that are still paying off today. Apply here.
- Calling all Florida-based startups: GatorPitch Miami has always been an opportunity for University of Florida-affiliated startups to get in front of South Florida’s vibrant investor and entrepreneurial ecosystem. For this year’s event on Nov. 5, UF Innovate is opening the opportunity to pitch to Florida-affiliated companies. Find out more here and apply here by Sept. 4.
- Are you Miami curious? Maybe you’re ready for more sunshine or tired of state income taxes. Maybe you’re just looking for your next adventure. The challenge usually isn’t the city, it’s figuring out how to make the move make sense – the right role, the right company, the right connections. If you’ve been thinking about Miami, check out moveto.miami, powered by Refresh Miami. We’re here to help.
Happy Labor Day, everyone!
Have news to report? Email Nancy Dahlberg at nancy@refreshmiami.com and follow her on X @ndahlberg and on LinkedIn. Subscribe to Refresh Miami’s free weekly newsletter here featuring startup news, tech job opportunities and events.
- 6+ things to know in #MiamiTech: Congrats to Clem, welcome to Nu, plus news from NextEra, Space-Eyes, Mana Tech, Monashees, Mark Cuban Foundation & more – September 6, 2026
- Top AIG exec to join Palantir to lead global financial services – September 2, 2026
- 8+ things to know in #MiamiTech: News from NEXA, A1R water, SPARC South Florida, tech salaries, Guident, Remitian, jobs opportunities & more – August 29, 2026
