Exclusive: Florida Funders raises $60 million for new VC fund

Florida Funders, a Tampa-based venture capital firm and angel investors network, tells Axios that it’s raised $60 million for its second fund.

Why it matters: Founded in 2013, Florida Funders has become something of a regional mentor for the slew of Silicon Valley VCs who’ve relocated to South Florida during the pandemic.

What they’re saying: “A lot of those investors reached out to us when they moved, but most of them are later-stage than us, so they ask us to feed them deals when the companies get to that point,” says Saxon Baum, the firm’s VP of investor relations.

• Most of the money for the new fund came from wealthy Floridians and family offices, with a Tampa concentration.
• Around half of Florida Funders’ investment portfolio is in Florida-based companies, while the rest is scattered throughout the Southeast.

When asked for one of the firm’s more promising, yet below-the-radar, startups, Baum named XGen, a Clearwater-based e-commerce product curation startup that’s begun working with Italian fashion brands like Armani and Ferragamo.