2025 Gold Coast Tech Accelerator Cohort
Program Overview
The inaugural Gold Coast Tech Accelerator Cohort launched in October 2025 in West Palm Beach, bringing together FinTech and Dual-Use & Defense Tech startups for an intensive, eight-week hybrid program designed to connect innovation with investment. The Florida Council of 100 and its Foundation, eMerge Americas, and Related Ross collaborated to establish the first cohort for participating companies which gained direct access to Florida’s top CEOs, investors, and industry leaders. The program immersed founders in hands-on mentorship, market access opportunities, and exposure to Florida’s rapidly growing finance, insurance, and defense sectors. These are industries in which the state now ranks second nationally in economic impact and growth.
The cohort culminated in a closing ceremony in December 2025, celebrating the progress and potential of the participating startups. Companies from both tracks showcased their technologies, forged corporate partnerships, and strengthened relationships with investors and enterprise leaders positioned to help them pilot, scale, and grow. By the program’s conclusion, the first cohort exemplified Florida’s emergence as a global hub for tech-driven innovation, highlighting the strength of its entrepreneurial ecosystem and setting a strong foundation for future accelerator classes on the Gold Coast.
FinTech Companies
Clox.AI
San Francisco, CA
Founder(s):
Praveen Mamidi
Document intelligence platform that detects tampering and forgery in documents and automates workflows to mitigate fraud in the financial services sector (mortgage lenders, banking institutions, public benefits, etc.).
Praveen Mamidi
Founder & CEO
praveen@clox.ai
Boca Raton, FL
Founder(s):
Ayal Jedeikin
Digital asset infrastructure company that connects institutions with deep crypto and stablecoin liquidity through both Prime Brokerage and direct bi-lateral models.
Ayal Jedeikin
Founder & CEO
ayali@cypator.com
Empowers banks and credit unions with an AI-native end-to-end solution. Delfi combines cloud-based speed and scalability with user-friendly agentic flow to become the one-stop single source of truth for effective financial risk management.
Daniel Ahn
Co-Founder & CEO
daniel@delfi.co
Eyeclone
Miami, FL
Founder(s):
Ilan Bernstein
AI-powered valuation intelligence hub that shows what a business is worth in real time, explains every change, and guides its next move. Securely connects accounting data, strategy, and value drivers into one live financial command center.
Ilan Bernstein
Co-Founder & CEO
ilan@triggerps.com
Miami, FL
Founder(s):
Jaime Ramirez
RegTech and digital banking platform that helps financial institutions and FinTechs streamline the entire client lifecycle—from onboarding and identity verification to compliance, financial crime prevention, and core banking automation.
Jaime Ramirez
Founder & CEO
jaime@preventor.com
Grove Finance
Miami, FL
Founder(s):
Matthew Collado & Rafael Collado
AI powered marketplace that connects various SMB's (focus on Latino) with lenders across the country in order to find the best product that is suitable for them. Using its matchmaking engine, we have been able to reduce the time to source funding from 30 days into 30 seconds, whether it's an SBA 7a loan or equipment financing from a local credit union.
Jonathan Collado
Head of Marketing
jonathan@grove-finance.com
Matthew Collado
Co-Founder & Director of Operations
matthew@grove-finance.com
Rafael Collado
Co-Founder
rafael@grove-finance.com
Boca Raton, FL
Founder(s):
David Rogove
Full-stack agentic operating system for mortgage origination. LLM powered AI agents login to lender portals, structure loans, and fill forms and submit files.
Joseph Roos
CFO / Advisor
joe@mortgagemaestro.com
David Rogove
Founder
david@mortgagemaestro.com
Retrievables
Delray Beach, FL
Founder(s):
Jeremy Crane
FinTech/LegalTech marketplace that connects SMEs and lenders (commercial and consumer) to collections attorneys and agencies.
Jeremy Crane
Founder & CEO
jeremy@retrievables.com
RiskRator
Miami Beach, FL
Founder(s):
Celeste De Armas
Simplifies compliance for financial institutions by automating the regulator mandated, annual Money Laundering and Sanctions Risk Assessment.
Celeste De Armas
Co-Founder & CEO
celestedearmas@riskrator.com
Product is automating and streamlining regulatory compliance and risk management for enterprises and government agencies operating in complex regulatory environments, particularly within the financial sector.
Alice McLaughlin Fernández
Founder & CEO
alice@syncdata.ai
Dual-Use & Defense Tech Companies
West Palm Beach, FL
Founder(s):
Nicholas Mohnacky, Andres Espinosa, and Jeff Robbins
bundleIQ is an AI platform that weaves documents, conversations, and data into living knowledge systems that grow smarter over time.
Andres Espinosa
CTO
andres@bundleiq.com
Nicholas Mohnacky
Co-Founder
nick@bundleiq.com
Extremis Systems is redefining ballistic protection with a breakthrough proprietary materials platform spanning air, land, sea/subsea, and critical infrastructure.
Jenna Landry
Co-Founder and CRO
jenna.landry@nztgroup.co
Zack Spencer
Co-Founder and CTO
zack.spencer@nztgroup.co
Farview
East Windsor, NJ
Founder(s):
Sid Chakravarthy
Farview is an AI-powered platform that prevents costly delays in shipbuilding and defense projects by transforming complex planning into real-time, on-time execution.
Sid Chakravarthy
Founder and CEO
sid@farview.ai
Future Optek is dual defense-commercial venture driving aiming technologies to the next frontier.
Matthew Pohl
Founder and CEO
matthew.pohl@futureoptek.com
Impatient Software
Lake Worth Beach, FL
Founder(s):
Naga Varun Kanaparthy & Roy Buncome
Beyond line of sight thermal and drone sensor components designer and calibration firm.
Naga Varun Kanaparthy
CEO
naga@impatient.software
Roy Buncome
COO
roy.buncome@collabignite.com
We turn battery manufacturing into printing — unlocking conformal designs and form factors that never existed before.
Gabe Elias
CEO
gabe@materialx.co
Nico Briceno
R&D Engineer
nico@materialx.co
Phantom Photonics develops marine & aerospace photonic sensors that use quantum coherence for noise resilience; featuring increased operational distance, stealth, and resistance to blinding attacks.
Alex Maierean
Co-founder and CEO
alex@phantomphotonics.ca
ProximaVision Aerospace designs and builds Tethered Drones with integrated AI and autonomy for ISR, Security, and other applications.
Claudio Lisman
CEO & Founder
clisman@proximavision.com
Symbio Holdings
Miami Beach, FL
Founder(s):
Eric McDavid
Symbio Holdings builds platforms that think, adapt, and scale, delivering AI-driven systems that strengthen defense, national security, and critical infrastructure while reimagining healthcare, science, and enterprise.
Eric McDavid
Founder
eric@symbioholdings.com
Thor Dynamics builds high-energy laser systems that shoot down drones for less than a penny a shot.
Chip Houcek
Director of Operations
chip.houcek@thordynamics.com
Justin Sadeghian
Director of National Security Growth
justin.sadeghian@thordynamics.com
