MIAMI —June 5, 2014 — Accelerated Growth Partners, a Miami-based angel investment group, will expand its offerings and create a stronger network of early-stage investors in South Florida with $211,000 from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Accelerated Growth Partners previously held regular meetings that allowed entrepreneurs seeking funding to pitch their ideas to investors. With Knight funding, AGP will relaunch this effort and focus on three key initiatives. The first is to create a strong network of active angel investors. This will help entrepreneurs more easily access capital at angel and seed funding rounds. The second is to launch new investor education workshops and create resources to help investors and entrepreneurs better understand and navigate the Miami startup community. The third will be to help establish a venture capital fund for early-stage Miami entrepreneurs.

“While Miami’s innovation ecosystem has made tremendous progress in recent years, attracting capital and investment to the city continues to be a challenge,” said Matt Haggman, Knight Foundation program director for Miami. “Accelerated Growth Partners is helping to fill this gap by bringing together investors who are looking for new opportunities and entrepreneurs with great ideas.”

New Managing Director Nico Berardi will lead the effort, acting as a connector between entrepreneurs and prospective investors. Berardi is the former U.S. CEO for TECHO, a nonprofit organization that mobilizes youth volunteers to fight extreme poverty in Latin America. Berardi lead the overhaul of TECHO through a strong focus on communications and social outreach. As a result, fundraising doubled under his tenure. He expanded TECHO to New York and deepened involvement from the Miami community by organizing the inaugural “Colecta” event in the city, mobilizing 1,013 volunteers to fundraise and support TECHO’s mission.

“My previous work made me realize I want to dedicate my life to making a difference,” said Berardi. “I’m here because I believe Accelerated Growth Partners can contribute to Miami’s transformation to a hub for innovation that will generate global impact.”

The board of directors at Accelerated Growth Partners includes four of the most active angel investors in Miami in the past five years: Juan Pablo Cappello, Andy Sturner, Daniel Echavarria and Marco Giberti. Together they have funded and guided over 40 startups.

About Accelerated Growth Partners

AGP is a Miami-based nonprofit investment network that connects active angel investors to promising, high-potential, early-stage technology entrepreneurs seeking funding. More at agpmiami.com.

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. We believe that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. www.knightfoundation.org

Contacts:

Nico Berardi, Managing Director, AGP, 305 834 8372, [email protected]

Andrew Sherry, Vice President for Communications, Knight Foundation, 305-908-2677, [email protected]