When 150 founders, investors and leaders from industry, academia and government came together for the inaugural Florida Deep Tech Venture Summit in Orlando’s Lake Nona district on Thursday, many topics were explored: Founder challenges, access to capital, and support systems for entrepreneurs, university commercialization and industry advancement, among them. But one theme came through loud and clear: Florida needs to do a better job of telling its aerospace and defense story.
We heard it in an on-stage conversation featuring JPMorganChase Executive Director Rhett Jeppson. He was interviewed by Phase Shift Ventures Managing Partner Dennis Pape, who co-hosted the Summit with Backswing Ventures Managing Partner Kyle Asman.
“When I look at one of the big renaissances happening right now, it’s in the L.A. area, specifically El Segundo,” said Jeppson. El Segundo is the home of Raytheon, Boeing, Nortrup, and others and it has taken advantage of the resurgence of interest and VC funding in deep tech, defense and space tech. “They have a rich tradition of aerospace manufacturing there. It goes back into the 50s,” Jeppson continued. “And they’ve leveraged that; they’ve leaned into that. I think that Florida is at this moment in time right now. Will we lean on our heritage that we have here and reinvigorate it?”
The good news, Jeppson said: “Florida is well-positioned. If you look at the university system we have here, it’s fantastic; We produce tons of engineers and professionals… We have the Space Coast right here. I think we should be leaning into all that really hard and make it more attractive for the startups to be here … And just as important is getting out there and telling the story. Everybody knows of our heritage in space, but we need to tell them how we’re innovating and why they ought to be here.”
He also briefed the crowd on JPMorganChase’s $1.5 trillion Security and Resiliency Initialtive is aimed at strengthening the U.S. industrial base, critical infrastructure and technological competitiveness. Announced in October, it is 10-year plan to facilitate, finance and invest in industries critical to national economic security and resiliency, and as part of that JPMorganChase will make direct equity and venture capital investments of up to $10 billion to help select companies primarily in the United States enhance their growth, spur innovation, and accelerate strategic manufacturing.
Deep tech, spacetech, dual-use and defense tech are all the buzz this year, and for good reason. “Deep tech innovation is becoming mission-critical for both commercial markets and national security. Florida, with its aerospace and defense talent, infrastructure, and federal presence, is uniquely positioned to lead this next wave of venture innovation,” Pape said. With this inaugural summit, “our goal is to highlight this growth and strengthen the connections between founders, federal customers, and capital providers,” added Asman. Organizations including Space Florida, Florida High Tech Corridor, UF Innovate, Innovate Orlando and others were represented on the stage.
While a panel of venture-funded spacetech founders – Chris Stott of Lone Star Data Holdings, Andrew Rush of Star Catcher, Michael Anderson of Seagate Space, Clint Graumann of Nuview, and Keith Lowdermilk of Vaya Space – took the stage before Jeppson, their view from the ground is that while Florida is a good place to build space tech companies (they citied lower costs, government support and a strong talent pool), they agreed there’s room for improvement in telling Florida’s story. Several of them said they have been aggressively pitched by Texas and California (particularly El Segundo) and Florida should be more aggressive in economic development, too. Still, noted Anderson, whose company is in Lake Nona: “We have access to more human capital and talent within 30 miles of here than anywhere else in the country.”
The founders were split on whether they valued non-dilutive capital for their businesses, but agreed that it should only be sought if it closely aligns with business and commercialization objectives. “There’s a myth out there that spacetech is capital intensive, and I would challenge that. I’d say we’re capital efficient,” said Stott.
The afternoon brought a panel of venture funded deep-tech founders: Rob Sladen of Zulu Pods, Gabriel Lavella of Canaery, Max Lemaitre of Mattrix Technologies, Trisha Fish of Rapta, Curt Lary of Hextronics, and Diana LaTour of X-lumin [pictured below]. Representing from South Florida was Zulu Pods, which designs and manufactures unit fluid components and subsystems. It is raising a Series B and plans to conduct flight and altitude testing for one of its important products, and the startup will introduce new products and start selling hardware, too.
Also from the Miami area was Hextronics, which is developing battery swapping drone stations for automatic drone operations, with the highest possible uptime. “We’re hitting just over $4 million in revenue this year, and we’ve got really big plans,” Lary said. However, he still needs to source many of his components from other countries, and wishes America would focus on making and exporting more of its own technology. Sladen agreed: “Our supply chain does keep me up at night… we’re forced to start thinking about developing these technologies internally.” But he said that’s also an opportunity, in that the parts can be sold as standalone products.
As for SBIRs, Zulu Pods has had several and advises founders to not be afraid to change work scopes to stay agile and innovative. Lary’s advice: “I love funding from customer orders of my products.”
South Florida’s Blue Frontier is an example of deep tech prowess, and its founder, Daniel Betts [pictured below], presented how it revolutionizing air conditioning – and energy storage. The startup’s award-winning product, an innovative air conditioning system, is three times more efficient than conventional AC units and saves about 50% to 80% in energy costs. The system can also reduce peak demand on the grid, benefiting utilities and consumers, Betts said.
Blue Frontier’s tech is being deployed in commercial buildings, and by targeting early adopters and innovators, the company aims to become a major player in the air conditioning and battery markets. Said Betts: “The incumbents are huge, so you will never be able to beat them at their game. You have to change the game.”
About half of the conference’s registrants were founders, and so the investor panel discussion was of high interest. VCs represented were Asman of Backswing Ventures, Pape of Phase Shift Ventures, Robert Harvey of Florida Opportunity Fund, Ben Patz of DeepWork Capital, and Jon Vecchio of Mosely Ventures. What defines a deep tech investment for them? Companies with business models based on engineering, innovation and scientific discoveries, they said, and they typically have longer return horizons.
To prevent “never ending science experiments,” the investors emphasized the importance of a strong business team with a thoughtful capital formation plan. That includes the ability to attract private capital, rather than relying solely on government funding. Intellectual property – patents and technical know-how – is critical in deep tech, too. Of course, the basics also matter: Does it solve a real problem for the customer?
And as for the Florida advantage, the investors were bullish, too, yet they said more investor capital is needed to compete with Texas and California.
READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:
- Inaugural summit’s message: Florida is positioned to lead in space and deep tech innovation, but let’s get that message out – December 12, 2025
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