Newsletter September 18th, 2025

Happy Thursday! This is Mind Your Business, your weekly spark plug in Tampa Bay’s business engine… where hospitals act like startups, farms get wired with AI, and investors bet big on the future.

This week, Moffitt Cancer Center doubles down on innovation, UF plants a $30M AI hub in Hillsborough, Tampa VC firm FLF leads an $8.3M AI shopping deal, Appspace adds a Canadian competitor to its portfolio, Israeli medtech OSSIO picks Palmetto for its U.S. HQ, and PaceMate names its first AI chief to transform cardiac care.

🏥 Moffitt Bets Big on the Future of Cancer Innovation
🌱 UF Plants $30M AI Hub in Hillsborough’s Fields
🛒 Tampa VC Leads $8.3M AI Shopping Deal
💻 Appspace Expands Again with New Acquisition
🦴 Israeli Medtech Giant Chooses Florida for U.S. HQ
❤️ PaceMate Taps AI to Transform Heart Monitoring

Scroll down to learn more…

🧬HEALTH TECH / AI

Moffitt Doubles Down on Innovation Strategy

Moffitt Cancer Center is ramping up its two-pronged strategy: life science breakthroughs and digital health solutions. This year it ran 34 pilots, nearly a third resulting in investment, and partnered with a CancerX startup to use AI to cut patient wait times from three weeks to just 3–4 days. Other efforts include remote symptom monitoring and speeding up clinical trial enrollment.

Looking ahead, Moffitt plans more spinouts of intellectual property and new digital/data ventures tied to Speros, its $1B, 775-acre life sciences campus in Pasco County.

⚡Why It Matters: 

Tampa Bay’s flagship cancer center is becoming more than a hospital… it’s an accelerator for oncology innovation. Speros could put the region at the center of biotech commercialization while strengthening Tampa’s national reputation in life sciences.

🌱 AGTECH

UF Breaks Ground on $30M AI Agriculture Center

The University of Florida is building a $30M Center for Applied AI and Agriculture at its Gulf Coast Research campus in Wimauma, with another $4.5M in federal grants for equipment. The 50,000-square-foot facility will hire 90 employees and connect growers with researchers to create automation tools that cut labor and production costs.

The center will build on UF’s collaboration with Nvidia and focus on applying AI to Florida crops like strawberries, tomatoes, and peppers. It is expected to be fully operational by early 2027.

⚡Why It Matters:
Agriculture is Florida’s second-largest industry, and this center tackles its biggest cost pressures. For Tampa Bay, it means new tech jobs, research partnerships, and leadership in AI-driven agtech for the Southeast.

🧠TICKLE YOUR BRAIN

Riddle of the Week:

I’m heavy at the start and stubborn to move.
Give me steady pushes and I store your effort.
Soon I’m carrying you, compounding your momentum.
What am I?

What am I? 🤔
(Answer at the bottom of the newsletter)

Pause for some deep thinking…

💸VENTURE CAPITAL

FLF Leads $8.3M Seed in AI Shopping Platform

Tampa’s FLF led an $8.3M seed round in Curated For You, an Austin startup using AI to predict what shoppers want next by tracking real-time signals like weather, events, and TikTok trends. The round included Mudita Venture Partners and Acronym VC.

Curated For You works with major retailers like Revolve, Saks Off Fifth, URBN, and Lululemon, and recently partnered with Microsoft to bring AI-curated shopping into Copilot. The new funding will fuel go-to-market growth.

⚡Why It Matters:
Tampa investors are reaching beyond the Bay to lead deals in vertical AI with proven traction. For founders, it’s a reminder that top-tier local capital is now competing nationally for deals in fast-scaling AI platforms.

🤝ACQUISITIONS

Appspace Acquires Igloo Software in Third Deal

Tampa software firm Appspace acquired Canadian intranet provider Igloo Software, adding 300+ enterprise customers and 90 employees. CEO Tony DiBenedetto said Igloo was a direct competitor and called the deal slightly larger than prior acquisitions.

Appspace, founded in 2002, already provides digital signage, intranets, and employee apps for global enterprises. This is its third deal since 2021, following acquisitions of Beezy and The Marlin Co.

⚡Why It Matters:
Appspace is proving that Tampa-grown companies can scale globally through strategic M&A. Its consolidation push makes it a heavyweight in workplace communications and a signal that Tampa software firms are playing on the world stage.

😂MEME STREET

Here’s a Meme You Can Probably Relate To

❤️MEDTECH / BIOTECH

Israeli Medtech OSSIO Picks Palmetto for U.S. HQ

OSSIO, an Israeli medtech company, is opening its U.S. HQ and manufacturing facility in Palmetto, bringing up to 100 jobs over five years. Its proprietary material, OSSIOFiber, mimics natural bone and fully integrates into the skeleton within two years, eliminating the need for permanent metal implants.

The 30,000-square-foot facility will include a surgeon training center and $200M in production capacity once operational in 2026. OSSIO has raised $100M to date and completed over 60,000 implants since its U.S. launch in 2019.

⚡Why It Matters:
Appspace is proving that Tampa-grown companies can scale globally through strategic M&A. Its consolidation push makes it a heavyweight in workplace communications and a signal that Tampa software firms are playing on the world stage.

PaceMate Names AI Chief to Boost Cardiac Monitoring

Tampa’s PaceMate, which centralizes data from cardiac monitoring devices, has hired Sean Shoffstall as its first head of AI, innovation, and data strategy. He will turn PaceMate’s massive dataset into machine learning tools that streamline clinical workflows and fuel preventive care research.

This move follows the June appointment of new CEO JR Finkelmeier as PaceMate accelerates product innovation in remote monitoring.

⚡Why It Matters:
Layering AI on top of clinical data could change how providers triage cardiac patients and manage population health. It keeps Tampa Bay in the spotlight as a center for digital health innovation.

WORTHY MENTIONS: UPDATES, EVENTS, RESOURCES, ETC…

• ⚖️ Fear & Greed Index: 62 (GREED) per CNN

• ₿ Bitcoin Dominance at 56% See chart

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• 📅 Want to sponsor an upcoming Masterminds event? Apply here!

RIDDLE ANSWER

The flywheel effect (a compounding growth flywheel).

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