By Nancy Dahlberg / ndahlberg@miamiherald.com
Miami’s Carlos Garcia, CEO of HYP3R, pitched his company at the SXSW Accelerator finals at South By Southwest this week, beating out hundreds of companies for the honor. HYP3R is a social media engagement platform; since HYP3R's launch last year, its clients have enjoyed an 86 percent ROE (return on engagement), said Garcia, who founded the company with Juan Carlos. HYP3R was also part of the SXSW hiring fair.
Open English, .CO Internet, the Knight Foundation, Black Tech Week and Digital Grass all held events during the five-day Interactive Festival. And that’s not all, as other Magic City startups and organizations descend on Austin, the startup hub “keeping it weird.”
At the SXSW trade fair, I ran into Jed Royer of Miami-based ChallengeStar. He was chosen for the Startup Spotlight and was exhibiting at the fair. ChallengeStar makes it easy for chairities to create and run contests via social media. He demoed the app; note to nonprofits, it’s very simple for your supporters to give.
YouVisit was exhibiting as well, offering rich VR experiences for brands in hospitality, education and other industries.
Miami’s Gapingvoid had a booth in the MedTech track at the JW Marriott. CEO Jason Korman said the medical community has been a big focus for Gaping Void, which has installed art by co-founder Hugh MacLeod in hundreds of companies, including Microsoft, Rackspace, Zappos and others. Large art installations – locally there are installations at Mount Sinai and more recently, Miami Medical Center – connect patients with the caregiving community, he said. They serve as inspiration for caregivers -- "happier people do better work," Korman said -- as well as make patients feel better and more secure at the hospital. "Empathy is the key to running a successful enterprise. It's not about the numbers, it's about the people," said Korman.
Gapingvoid has been involved with SXSW for 12 years. This year the company is literally everywhere -- Gaping Void art is on the official SXSW Interactive tote bags!
