They came for spring break … and stayed to build companies
Acronym VC general partner Joshua B. Siegel and his family arrived in South Florida from New York City’s West Village for a simple spring break trip just as the pandemic began, but they never actually left. After swapping a cramped two-bedroom apartment for a house in Delray Beach with a pool and open space, Siegel realized the move was “a complete no brainer.”
Siegel is part of a growing wave of ambitious residents who are trading the Northeast and West Coast for Palm Beach County. These new arrivals are building durable and revenue generating businesses that are quickly transforming the local landscape.
Fixing the healthcare headache with a side of climate tech
The county is seeing a trend toward deep tech and blockchain applications that solve massive regulatory headaches. Kirk St Johns has been in the crypto space for over a decade and saw an opportunity to apply blockchain to the U.S. healthcare system.
“We’re going from the internet to the blockchain,” St Johns told Refresh Miami. His company, Solum Global, uses smart contracts to allow for real-time adjudication of medical claims which typically take weeks or months to process. CEO Geary Stonesifer added that they are offering a fast-pay option that does not exist in the market right now. He noted that being in South Florida puts them near the public policy bubble around Mar-a-Lago, which allows them to influence national healthcare conversations…