WHO’S ACTUALLY SCALING 
Worth, the Orlando fintech startup from the founders of our first unicorn, just announced its Priority integration to automate merchant onboarding, the kind of B2B infrastructure deal that processes billions in transactions. Kore.ai earned the highest strategy score and top marks in 11 criteria in Forrester’s Q4 2025 Cognitive Search evaluation, with analysts calling their vision for an “agentic operating system for the enterprise” category-defining. OneRail achieved ISO 27001:2022 certification for its last-mile delivery and omnichannel fulfillment platform, operational maturity that matters, and the kind of logistics infrastructure that connects to manufacturing and retail. Here’s the ecosystem play: Worth’s merchant onboarding technology and Kore.ai’s cognitive search platform are exactly the kind of enterprise infrastructure other Orlando companies should be leveraging.  

Wriggle is turning plastic bags into fertilizer, sustainability innovation that could connect to agriculture, theme park operations, or municipal contracts, especially since they are part of the Cenfluence cluster initiative. The Orlando Economic Partnership launched the City Playbook podcast with host Tim Giuliani featuring Orlando’s first unicorn STAX with co-founder Sal Rehmetullah talking about understanding where this ecosystem is headed. Irina Zakharchenko earned recognition for procurement work at Apollorise, supply chain intelligence that defense contractors, manufacturers, and healthcare systems all need. GrowFL named 50 high-growth Florida companies including Orlando’s Sentry Technology Solutions, and BlackCloak was named a 2025 SINET16 Innovator for digital executive protection. These aren’t just wins, they’re proof points that Orlando companies can compete at enterprise scale. 

• ORLANDO FINTECH WORTH TEAMS UP WITH PRIORITY TO SUPERCHARGE MERCHANT ONBOARDING WITH AI AUTOMATION, CUTTING MANUAL REVIEWS AND SPEEDING APPROVALS FOR FASTER, SAFER PAYMENTS ACROSS U.S. BUSINESSES

• ROCK ’EM SOCKS FOUNDER ROB STARKMAN SHARES HOW A DORM-ROOM IDEA BECAME A GLOBAL BRAND. FROM UCF ROOTS TO DISNEY PARTNERSHIPS, HIS STORY SHOWS HOW ORLANDO’S CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION POWER BIG DREAMS.

• ORLANDO STARTUP PIONEERS GENIUS SOLUTION TO TRANSFORM PLASTIC BAGS INTO FARMING GOLD: ‘BEST … ON THE PLANET’  

• LYA YIBIRIN’S SUCCESS AT TECHSTARS STARTUP WEEKEND ORLANDO  

• THE CITY PLAYBOOK EPISODE 03: FROM ORLANDO’S FIRST UNICORN TO WHAT’S NEXT — A CONVERSATION WITH SAL REHMETULLAH

• ORLANDO-HEADQUARTERED KORE.AI NAMED A LEADER IN FORRESTER WAVE™ FOR COGNITIVE SEARCH PLATFORMS Q4 2025, ACHIEVING HIGHEST STRATEGY RANKING AND TOP SCORES IN 11 CRITERIA INCLUDING VISION, TO POWER CONTEXTUAL, AGENTIC AI EXPERIENCES FOR ENTERPRISES WORLDWIDE

• ORLANDO TECH LEADER IRINA ZAKHARCHENKO RECOGNIZED IN MARQUIS WHO’S WHO FOR PIONEERING AI-DRIVEN PROCUREMENT AT APOLLORISE, EMPOWERING WOMEN IN INNOVATION AND BUILDING RESILIENT SUPPLY CHAINS ACROSS HEALTHCARE AND GLOBAL INDUSTRIES

• CO-FOUNDER OF ORLANDO FINTECH STARTUP BILLER GENIE BELIEVES THAT THE FIRST INTERVIEW SHOULD BE LIKE A FIRST DATE 

• THE 15TH ANNUAL GROWFL FLORIDA COMPANIES TO WATCH HONORS 50 HIGH-GROWTH BUSINESSES FUELING FLORIDA’S ECONOMY

• SENTRY TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS NAMED GROWFL FLORIDA COMPANIES TO WATCH

• BLACKCLOAK NAMED A 2025 SINET16 INNOVATOR FOR ITS INDUSTRY-LEADING DIGITAL EXECUTIVE PROTECTION SOLUTION

• ONERAIL, ORLANDO-BASED LEADER IN LAST-MILE DELIVERY AND OMNICHANNEL FULFILLMENT, ACHIEVES ISO 27001:2022 CERTIFICATION, REINFORCING DATA SECURITY, TRUST, AND OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE IN POWERING RESILIENT, SCALABLE SUPPLY CHAINS ACROSS NORTH AMERICA 

LAB TO MARKET (IF WE DON’T LOSE IT FIRST) 
UCF is winning competitive federal grants, and here’s where the ecosystem opportunity lives. A cross-disciplinary team secured $537,619 from NIH to build a biosensor that detects Hepatitis B, C, and HIV simultaneously, critical for underserved communities where traditional lab testing takes months. This is the kind of translational research that should create spinout companies here, not IP that gets licensed to Boston or San Diego. Another UCF professor is working on human digital twinning in healthcare, applying Central Florida’s modeling and simulation depth, the same capability that made us a defense powerhouse, to personalized medicine. This is Orlando’s competitive advantage: taking simulation and sensing technology from defense and research and applying it across healthcare, mobility, and manufacturing. The technology transfer question is whether local capital and mentorship can keep these researchers here long enough to build companies. 

• UCF TEAM WINS $538K GRANT TO BUILD SIMPLE, AFFORDABLE TEST THAT SPOTS HEPATITIS B, C, AND HIV ALL AT ONCE—TEAMWORK BETWEEN DOCTORS AND CHEMISTS AIMS TO SPEED UP RESULTS AND HELP PEOPLE IN REMOTE AREAS GET CARE FASTER
  
  
• UCF PROFESSOR WORKS TO DEVELOP HUMAN DIGITAL TWINNING IN HEALTHCARE

FOLLOW THE MONEY  
Florida capital markets are starting to show up, and here’s where the ecosystem needs to pay attention. DeepWork Capital joined top insurtech investors in a $12.5 million seed round for Tampa’s Irys, a next-gen agency management platform. Florida capital backing Florida companies, this is how you build regional momentum. Orlando’s Laser Photonics landed a multi-unit aerospace sale, manufacturing contracts that create high-wage jobs. Now here’s the big one: JPMorgan Chase announced a $10 billion investment in U.S. national security sectors, advanced manufacturing, defense, energy, and emerging technologies over the next decade. For a region with Central Florida’s defense concentration, simulation expertise, and advanced manufacturing infrastructure, this capital deployment should trigger aggressive positioning by economic development leaders. Laser Photonics, MAK Technologies, companies in Central Florida Research Park, this is your addressable capital. Who’s building the relationships to access it? Florida Opportunity Fund and Quantum Coast Capital signed an MOU on quantum investment, early positioning in an emerging category that connects to UCF research capabilities.  

• FLORIDA’S DEEPWORK CAPITAL JOINED TOP INSURTECH INVESTORS IN A $12.5 MILLION SEED ROUND FOR TAMPA-BASED IRYS, A NEXT-GEN AGENCY MANAGEMENT PLATFORM REDEFINING INSURANCE INFRASTRUCTURE THROUGH AUTOMATION AND AGENTIC AI.

• ORLANDO’S LASER PHOTONICS LANDS MULTI-UNIT SALE TO AEROSPACE LEADER, EXPANDING FLORIDA’S HIGH-TECH INNOVATIONS
  
  

• JPMORGAN CHASE ANNOUNCES $10 BILLION INVESTMENT IN U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY SECTORS—TARGETING ADVANCED MANUFACTURING, DEFENSE, ENERGY, AND AI TO BOLSTER RESILIENCE AND SUPPLY CHAINS OVER THE NEXT DECADE

• SANFORD LIGHTING FIRM’S LATEST ACQUISITION STRENGTHENS DOMESTIC MANUFACTURING CAPABILITIES

• FLORIDA OPPORTUNITY FUND AND QUANTUM COAST CAPITAL SIGN MOU TO ADVANCE QUANTUM INVESTMENT AND INNOVATION

   

SIMULATION NATION & THE DUAL-USE QUESTION 
Central Florida Research Park houses PEO STRI, which continues leading defense innovation procurement. MAK Technologies launched MAK ONE 2025 at the AUSA event, an open-standards simulation platform for next-gen synthetic training environments. Here’s the ecosystem connection: the same simulation and modeling expertise that powers MAK’s defense platforms is the same regional expertise that the air taxi viability study leverages and what UCF is applying to healthcare digital twinning. This is Orlando’s cross-sector advantage, and we need to make it explicit. The National Center for Simulation added defense veterans Tim Hill, Robert Epstein, and Tim James to its 2026 board, leadership that can help translate defense dominance into commercial applications. A collaboration highlighted growing Latina and women participation in defense and tech sectors, diversity that strengthens talent pipelines and brings different perspectives to dual-use innovation. A UCF research team took second place in a national threat detection competition, showing Team Orlando‘s academic-military-industry partnerships produce research outcomes. The simulation cluster is real. The question is whether we’re translating that dominance into commercial dual-use applications or staying confined to defense budgets. The companies and capabilities exist. Someone needs to connect them to commercial markets. 

• LEADING FROM THE FRONT: PEO STRI LOCATED IN CENTRAL FLORIDA RESEARCH PARK

• ORLANDO’S MAK TECHNOLOGIES LAUNCHES MAK ONE 2025 AT ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY EVENT: AN OPEN-STANDARDS SIMULATION PLATFORM ENHANCING VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS AND REAL-TIME DATA INTEGRATION

• NATIONAL CENTER FOR SIMULATION WELCOMES NEW DEFENSE VETERANS TIM HILL, ROBERT EPSTEIN AND TIM JAMES TO 2026 BOARD, RE-ELECTS KEY LEADERS TO ADVANCE MODELING, SIMULATION, AND TRAINING INNOVATION IN CENTRAL FLORIDA AND BEYOND 

• COLLABORATION SHOWCASES GROWING PRESENCE OF LATINAS, WOMEN IN DEFENSE AND TECHNOLOGY SECTORS
  
  
• TEAM ORLANDO: UCF RESEARCH TEAM EARNS SECOND PLACE IN NATIONAL THREAT DETECTION COMPETITION 

 The pieces are here: research universities producing breakthrough IP in simulation and sensing, defense contractors doing billion-dollar work in synthetic environments, fintechs landing enterprise partnerships, aviation infrastructure planning using our modeling expertise. But having the pieces and wiring them into a coherent, competitive tech economy are different games. 

Here’s the work: connecting UCF researchers to local capital so IP doesn’t leave, connecting simulation expertise to healthcare and mobility applications, connecting local companies to JPMorgan’s $10B national security investment, connecting enterprise infrastructure from Worth and Kore.ai to other local companies that need it. Founder-to-founder density. Local capital writing checks beyond Series A. Corporate innovation partnerships that actually procure from startups. 

The Orlando Tech Community Awards on November 20th at Inter&Co Stadium is our chance to see each other clearly and celebrate the people making these connections. We’re building something real here, but only if we wire it together. Nominations close today.

Sponsorships and tickets available at Orlando Tech Community Awards

Let’s keep going. 

— Sheena 
CEO, Innovate Orlando