500’s been in Miami since the end of September, running a growth accelerator program called 500 Miami Distro and generally getting up to lots of good — and no good, all at the same time.

Miami is hot — skyscrapers and coworking spaces popping up faster than food trucks, the big money of Latin America flying in for a weekend or a lifetime, and a tech / VC scene that’s like a kid destined for (at least) the Olympic trials — but it’s all just getting started.

Naturally, we had to get in on this.

Today, we’d like to take you on a tour of Miami — y toda Latinamerica — by way of the companies in Batch 1 of our Miami Distro growth accelerator.

The thing I, Susan, have personally loved about working with these companies is that they are Really. F-ing. Good.

Product-market fit, traction, smart, hard-working teams, and a LOT of under-optimized gold because they’ve been so busy hustling and building their businesses that they haven’t yet reached the point of streamlining and operationalizing growth.

With that, I’d like to introduce you to the 8 companies that make up Batch 1 of our first-ever / best-yet Distro accelerator here in Miami…

CINEPAPAYA

Cinepapaya enables mobile and online movie ticket purchases in 22 emerging markets. The company also offers a B2B suite for movie theatre partners that includes market intelligence and ticket validation, among other sexy solutions.

Cinepapaya already has impressive traction in Latin America, and came to 500 Miami Distro for growth to power further consumer market expansion and to grow their B2B sales partnerships.

CLUTCHPREP

Remember the SATs? Or how about organic chem 201? ClutchPrep is the 21st century Kaplan — test-prep meets online distribution meets subscriptions.

ClutchPrep is based right here in Miami, and has already reached 100,000 users across 2,000 campuses in the U.S.

KAIROS

Kairos is a facial analysis technology that interprets human emotions to provide businesses with data and insights to help them better understand their customers and their marketing campaigns (and know what’s happening with all that money they’re blowing). Somehow — don’t ask us — Kairos is also able to do this while maintaining user privacy.

Kairos is an Endeavor company is based in Miami, and came to 500 Miami Distro to level up their B2B sales and marketing operations.

MXHERO

MXHero is a multi-solution suite for enterprise and SMBs that protects company email from hackers, plus makes it easier to find and track attachments.

The company provides tools that combine an organization’s email with cloud storage, thus avoiding any and all potential Hilary situations.

OFI

OFI is a B2B procurement platform based out of Bogotá selling technology products and “back office” subscriptions to corporations and SMBs across Latin America.  

OFI is a supply chain powerhouse that has mastered logistics across a fragmented yet growing market.

ROCKET

In Mexico, only 2% of credit card applications to major financial institutions are approved, but with Rocket, this jumps to over 20%.

Rocket helps users apply and be approved for credit cards in Mexico — where the wheels aren’t quite as greased as they are here in the US — by matching users up with the best credit card for each person in real-time.

SHOPEANDO

Shopeando brings high-quality, non-branded goods from platforms like Alibaba to millions of customers across Latin America.

Shopeando is an ecommerce platform with cutthroat prices because they’re direct importers who control the entire logistics process, cutting out intermediaries. They carry no inventory, so they’re profitable on every sale.

SOCIALTOOLS

Social Tools is a suite of solutions that enables Agencies and Marketer to run low-cost promotions and contests on Facebook.

The company helps brands grow their audience size and conversions by optimizing CPA and engagement across social campaigns.

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We’re thrilled to welcome these companies into the 500 portfolio, and to have an excuse to see more of Miami as the city and its region continue to grow.

Perhaps one day Miami will be even more known for its tech startups than its nightlife… perhaps.

Special thanks to Ivan Carrillo for the photos.