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Peter Thiel’s family office expands in Miami
Peter Thiel has leased office space at Miami’s 830 Brickell skyscraper for his family office, at a time when tech and finance and tech heavyweights are embracing the city, Bloomberg reported.
Thiel, who co-founded Palantir Technologies and PayPal and has invested in many of the biggest tech companies over the past several decades including SpaceX, is paying about $250 per square foot for 18,158 square feet on the 44th floor, according to Bloomberg’s sources. It is believed to be the most expensive office lease signed in Miami’s history. Thiel Capital is paying roughly five times the city’s average office lease, Bloomberg reported.
Thiel’s family office is joining Ken Griffin’s Citadel Securities, private equity firm Thoma Bavo and Microsoft Corp. in the 55-floor tower in the heart of the city’s financial district.
Of course, Thiel’s companies have been increasing their Miami footprint. Early this year, Thiel’s investment firm, Thiel Capital, opened an office in Wynwood. Palantir, which is led by Alex Karp, with Thiel serving as chairman, moved its headquarters to Miami this year. Read more here.
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Miami makes its mark at South Summit in Madrid
Miami innovation was front and center this week at the 15th edition of South Summit, one of Europe’s largest startup gatherings and widely considered the premier entrepreneurship event in Spain. Held in Madrid, the conference brought together thousands of founders, investors, corporate leaders, and innovators from around the world, with a strong showing from Miami’s growing tech ecosystem.
Refresh Miami was on the ground covering the event, where conversations repeatedly returned to a theme familiar to South Florida founders: how to build and scale companies in an era being reshaped by artificial intelligence.
Among the speakers was Miami entrepreneur and investor Kim Perell, who shared lessons from her own startup journey. Reflecting on the failures and setbacks that shaped her career, Perell told attendees that “before you level up, you will mess up,” encouraging founders to embrace mistakes rather than fear them. Drawing parallels between today’s AI boom and the early days of the internet, she urged entrepreneurs not to wait for perfect conditions before acting.
The rapid pace of innovation was also a key topic during a conversation with Picsart co-founder and COO Mikayel Vardanyan. The company, which serves roughly 150 million users, has spent years experimenting with AI-powered creative tools. Vardanyan said the company now releases updates almost daily, noting that in today’s market, “if you are late for a day, you are already late.”
While AI dominated much of the agenda, the event also highlighted the enduring importance of human connections. As Perell reminded the audience, no founder succeeds alone.
For Miami’s innovation community, South Summit is a strong reminder that our startup ecosystem is increasingly part of a global conversation, one that stretches far beyond South Florida’s borders and increasingly includes key hubs such as Madrid. – Riley Kaminer
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Survey finds that mid-market companies struggle with scaling AI
Consider this: 94% of mid-market companies use generative AI but few have what it takes to scale. That’s the main takeaway from a new report, “The State of Artificial Intelligence in the Mid-Market,” that shows a large gap in mid-market AI strategies. Miami-based firm Kaufman Rossin recently released the report on how mid-market companies are adopting, scaling, and creating value with AI, along with the challenges of doing so.
The report’s findings show that while adoption of AI is prevalent among mid-market companies, “the infrastructure, governance, and organizational alignment needed to generate enterprise-wide results remain elusive for most companies.”
“The overall message of the report is that the majority of mid-market companies, like 94%, are in some kind of way already using AI but they’re stuck in what we call the ‘messy middle’,” said Vera Nieuwland, the digital and AI transformation services leader at CPA and advisory services firm Kaufman Rossin. “The tool landscape is very overwhelming, even if you’re an expert in this space, especially if it’s not your day-to-day job,” she said, adding that lack of knowledge of building the organizational framework around it, or governance, also contributes to that messy middle
Finding the right talent , cybersecurity and data privacy concerns, and integrating with legacy systems were also some of the barriers to adaption noted in the report. Nieuwland said that the actual adoption of AI is only as successful as people know how to use it: “You can’t do AI without good data and you can’t do successful transformation in a company using AI without making sure that the data and the systems talk to each other.”
Still, 62% of the executives responding to the inaugural survey reported seeing ROI within 12 months, creating pressure to scale AI quickly. The firm surveyed 100 mid-market companies across industries nationwide and plans to conduct it yearly.
“AI is really powerful in being able to fully optimize businesses and drive innovation because it’s truly a transformational technology era that that we’re in,” Nieuwland said. “But in order to really achieve those benefits, you want to take a strategic approach because it’s very easy to get lost in problem-solving or spending a lot of money on it and not seeing the benefits from it.” – Caitlin Granfield
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New Boca investment firm targets defense technology
Verix Equity Partners, a Boca Raton-based private equity firm focused on national security, launched this week. Founded by Jeff Hart, a former partner at AE Industrial, and Sean Battle, a national security entrepreneur and operator, Verix enables founder-led businesses to scale in markets where technology, mission requirements, and national resilience are converging.
Having previously worked together to build numerous national security platforms, Hart and Battle bring a shared vision that combines private equity execution with operating perspective and deep sector relationships. The firm’s strategy is informed by a decade-long investment playbook, significant historical national security transaction experience, and a deep network of operators, executives, and industry partners across the national security ecosystem, including defense, government, space, and commercial technology markets.
“The national security landscape is changing quickly, and founder-led companies need more than just capital,” said Hart. “They need strategic partners that stand alongside them, navigating evolving customer priorities, ushering in new technology, managing talent demands, and executing their path to scale. Verix was built to meet that need.”
The launch comes as national security priorities are being reshaped by rising geopolitical complexity, supply chain vulnerabilities, artificial intelligence adoption, space proliferation, growing power constraints, and the need for more agile defense and government technology providers. Verix believes these trends are creating a long-term compelling opportunity. The firm expects to announce additional team members and initial platform activity in the coming months.
READ MORE: South Florida is becoming a mission-critical hub for defense innovation
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Flagler Technologies opens Miami HQ
Flagler Technologies has opened a new Miami headquarters as the company continues to grow across South Florida. The announcement also ties into the rising demand for scalable IT, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, data analytics and managed technology solutions for businesses across industries, the company said. Currently about 25 employees are working at the new office at 11410 N Kendall Dr, Suite 205, a spokeswoman said.
Flagler Technologies also announced the addition of Quincy Rooi as Associate Account Executive, based out of the company’sMiami headquarters. Flagler Technologies delivers customized technology solutions to clients across industries including finance, healthcare, manufacturing, education, retail, media and entertainment, through its expertise in cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, data analytics and modern network solutions.
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Jobs, jobs, jobs
Acclaim – Head of Sales
Acclaim – Technical Project Manager (Voice AI)
Autodesk – Search Intelligence Manager
Canals – Sr Software Engineer
Chewy – Media Planning Manager
eMed – Implementation Manager
Hut 8 – Sr Network Engineer
Lennar – Business Analyst II
MaintainX – Customer Success Manager
Nubank – Staff Analytics Engineer
Papa – Director of Business Operations
Ramp – Product Compliance Program Manager
Vultr – Sr Site Reliability Engineer, Infrastructure
Find more jobs on Refresh Miami’s job board here.
PLUS
Opportunity knocks
- Join Founders Rise Miami and Creative Currents for the first in a series of free workshops to support the female and minority founders of Miami. Off the back of 3 sold-out sessions, Jessica Campbell, founder of Creative Currents, will hold a hands-on workshop where you go from scattered idea to working prototype in a single sitting. The free event is June 16 at Mana Tech in downtown Miami, and more sessions are planned. Register here for the June 16th event.
- Apply to pitch at WHX Miami 2026 in Xcelerate, a global startup competi usintion for healthcare innovators. Finalists will pitch live June 17-19 at WHX at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Learn more here.
- Applications are now open for the Cade Prize for Inventivity, a national competition awarding over $100K in cash and in-kind support to early-stage inventors and entrepreneurs. The prize backs founders across industries like tech, healthcare, environment, and sports who are building innovative, real-world solutions and need support to move from idea to market. Apply here by July 10.
ICYMI – Catch up!
- Latest fundraise: Canals raises $35M to make wholesale distribution feel a little less like fax-machine America
- Fund news: Lightning Capital launches $100M fund as Miami’s venture scene enters a new phase
- More news: Miami cracks into the top 20 global ecosystems in new ranking
- Maria Derchi Russo: Why ‘know any good VCs?’ is the wrong question
- Skyscanner is doubling down on Miami, and betting Dolphins fans will travel with it
- Burnout became a badge of honor. Nowful wants to change that.
- Autodesk makes a $3.6B move onto the factory floor with MaintainX acquisition
- Miami startup Investrio is building a human-centered financial platform for small businesses
- Petwealth’s at-home tests aim to speed up diagnosis and treatment for our furry friends
- Latest guest post: From Miami, With Love
- And much more paywall-free #MiamiTech news here.
Have news to report? Email Nancy Dahlberg at [email protected] 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.
Foun
- 6+ things to know in #MiamiTech: News about Peter Thiel, South Summit, an AI adoption survey, Verix Equity Partners, Flagler Technologies, fresh job opportunities & more – June 4, 2026
- 8 South Florida startups will present at this week’s FVF Early Stage Venture Conference – June 1, 2026
- Miami startup Investrio is building a human-centered financial platform for small businesses – May 29, 2026
