This is a list of every Florida unicorn (i.e. startup that has reached at least a $1 billion valuation) founded within the last decade. To qualify for the list, a startup must be headquartered in Florida and must have been founded no earlier than 2012 (10 years ago).
#1 Yuga Labs ($4 Billion)
Founded in 2021, Yuga Labs is the crypo startup that created the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection and ApeCoin. In early 2022, the company also acquired CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs.
The company has raised money from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Animoca Brands, LionTree, Sound Ventures, Thrive Capital, FTX, and MoonPay.
| Headquarters Location | Miami |
| Website | yuga.com |
| Year Founded | 2021 |
| Founders | – Wylie Aronow (GordonGoner) – Greg Solano (Gargamel) – Kerem Atalay |
| Last Valuation | $4 Billion (March 2022) |
| Total Amount Raised | $450 Million |
#2 MoonPay ($3.4 Billion)
This B2B company is essentially an exchange-as-a-service that lets crypto wallets and other apps add the ability to buy cryptocurrencies using fiat. They handle everything from KYC compliance to banking regulation compliance in over 160 countries.
MoonPay customers include OpenSea, Trust Wallet, Binance, Bitcoin.com, and OKEX.
MoonPay operates in the U.S. through its subsidiary entity MoonPay USA LLC.
| Headquarters Location | Miami |
| Website | moonpay.com |
| Year Founded | 2019 |
| Founders | – Ivan Soto-Wright – Victor Faramond – Max Crown (Dramatically, Max Crown calls himself a cofounder on LinkedIn but is only listed as CFO on MoonPay’s website) |
| Last Valuation | $3.4 Billion (November 2021) |
| Total Amount Raised | $555 Million |
#3 Pipe ($2 Billion)
Pipe was founded in September 2019, raised $6 million in seed funding in late February 2020, and has grown very quickly since. The company provides revenue financing to startups — essentially letting you trade a percentage of future revenue for an upfront lump of cash to grow your business without the dilution of equity fundraising.
| Headquarters Location | Miami |
| Website | pipe.com |
| Year Founded | 2019 |
| Founders | Josh Mangel and Zain Allarakhia |
| Valuation | $2 Billion (March 2021) |
| Total Amount Raised | $316 Million |
| Notable Investors | – Chamath Palihapitiya – Shopify – Slack – HubSpot – Okta – Morgan Stanley’s Counterpoint Global – Marc Benioff – Greenspring Associates – CreditEase FinTech Investment Fund – Fin VC – 3L – SBI Investment – Next47 – Seven Seven Six – MaC Ventures – Raptor Group |
#4 Papa ($1.4 Billion)
Papa helps healthcare plans and employers to offer young-adults-as-a-service to help older adults with daily living tasks, transportation, etc. As a major retirement destination, south Florida is the perfect place for a company like this to be headquartered.
The company has raised money from Tiger Global, SoftBank, Initialized Capital, and Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six.
| Headquarters Location | Miami |
| Website | papa.com |
| Year Founded | 2016 |
| Founders | Andrew Parker |
| Valuation | $1.4 Billion (November 2021) |
| Total Amount Raised | $240 Million |
#5 REEF Global (aka Reef Technologies)
REEF buys or partners with parking lot operators and then increases the revenue that can be derived from those parking lots by operating ghost kitchens or other mobile infrastructure from them as well as by helping direct traditional parking customers to them through a mobile app.
The company’s investors include Mubadala Capital Ventures, SoftBank, Target Global, UBS Asset Management, Oaktree Capital Management, and Jon Soberg.
Reef is part startup and part asset management company. One way it scales its business is through specialized real estate investment funds such as the Neighborhood Property Group which raised $300 million without diluting the shareholders of Reef itself.
| Headquarters Location | Miami |
| Website | reeftechnology.com |
| Year Founded | 2013 |
| Founders | – Ari Ojalvo – Aziz Ihsanoglu – Philippe Saint-Just – Umut Tekin |
| Valuation | unknown (passed unicorn status in Dec 2018 though) |
| Total Amount Raised | $1.72 Billion (some of that is into real estate funds controlled by Reef rather than Reef itself) |
#6 Stax
Founded by two Pakistani siblings, Stax is a fintech company focusing on payments for four verticals of customers:
- Professional services
- Field services
- Health care
- Retail
What these verticals have in common is that they need to take payment both in person and digitally.
The company’s investors include venVelo, Fulcrum Equity Partners, Florida Angel Nexus, DeepWork Capital, Florida Opportunity Fund, Blue Star Innovation Partners, HarbourVest Partners, and Greater Sum Ventures.
| Headquarters Location | Orlando |
| Website | staxpayments.com |
| Year Founded | 2014 |
| Founders | Sal Rehmetullah and Suneera Madhani (brother & sister) |
| Valuation | $1 Billion (March 2022) |
| Amount Raised | $263.3 Million over 5 rounds (last was a $245 Million Series D) |
#7 Cirkul
This Tampa-based startup manufactures water bottles that take interchangable and replaceable flavor cartridges. The company skyrocketed to unicorn status after its product went viral on TikTok.
The company’s investors include Kaulig Capital, Schechter Private Capital, SC.Holdings, AF Ventures, Siddhi Capital, and Proton Enterprises.
| Headquarters Location | Tampa |
| Website | drinkcirkul.com |
| Year Founded | 2015 |
| Founders | – Andy Gay – Garrett Waggoner |
| Valuation | $1 Billion (2022) |
| Total Amount Raised | $111.6 Million |