Category: Technology

AVENTURA — Comp AI, an artificial intelligence-powered compliance and security startup, has opened its new headquarters in Aventura and plans to hire about 20 employees over the next 100 days, Refresh Miami reported — the latest AI company to plant its flag in South Florida.

Founded in 2025, Comp AI helps startups and growth-stage software companies automate security and compliance requirements through continuous monitoring and AI-assisted workflows. The company says it has grown from zero to 900 customers and from zero to more than $7 million in annual recurring revenue in the past 14 months.

The company relocated to South Florida in February 2026 and announced the Aventura headquarters at the end of July. Co-founder and CEO Lewis Carhart plans to move to the Miami area within months, joining CTO Mariano Fuentes and COO Claudio Fuentes, who have already relocated.

“Miami has quickly become the center of gravity for Comp AI,” Carhart told Refresh Miami. “Our largest cluster of employees is here, our hiring focus is here.”

From 7 Local Employees to 50 by Year’s End

Comp AI currently has seven employees in South Florida and 23 worldwide, and it expects to grow to roughly 50 people by the end of 2026. The near-term hiring push targets product, engineering, marketing and growth, finance and operations roles.

The company’s 6,000-square-foot office in the Aventura View building is getting about $200,000 in renovations, with plans that include flexible workspaces, a lounge with a racing simulator and — in a flourish befitting an AI company — a humanoid robot receptionist.

The move adds to a steady drumbeat of AI firms choosing South Florida for their headquarters. London-based AI company Acclaim recently selected Miami as its global headquarters as part of a U.S. expansion, according to Refresh Miami, and AI infrastructure firms including Hut 8 and Hydra Host have been expanding their Miami operations this year.

The headquarters decisions come amid a strong funding backdrop for the region. Startups across the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro raised nearly $2 billion in venture capital during the first half of 2026, with fintech and AI among the leading sectors in the second quarter, according to PitchBook data.

For Aventura, better known for its mall than its startups, landing a fast-growing AI company’s headquarters is a small but telling signal: South Florida’s tech geography is spreading beyond Brickell and Wynwood, following talent — and founders — up the coast into northeast Miami-Dade.

MIAMI — Hut 8, the AI infrastructure company headquartered in Miami, is preparing to move into a new Brickell office roughly five times larger than its current space as it ramps up local hiring, Refresh Miami reported — a bet that the city can supply the talent behind the AI computing build-out.

Founded in 2017 and led by CEO Asher Genoot, Hut 8 builds and operates energy and computing infrastructure serving hyperscale AI customers. The company employs about 280 people globally and expects to pass 300 soon, with roughly 120 of those employees already based in Miami.

The company is recruiting across engineering, development, finance, operations, real estate and people functions, with multiple roles currently open.

A Former Meta and Zoom Executive Leads the Push

The hiring strategy is being driven by Chief People Officer Matthew Saxon, who previously served as chief people officer at Zoom and vice president of people operations at Meta.

“We are very much bullish on Miami,” Saxon told Refresh Miami, adding that “hiring is so centric to us” as the company scales alongside surging demand for AI computing capacity.

Saxon said the company looks for candidates who pair technical skill with what he calls first-principles thinking, and it actively recruits interns and recent graduates. Hut 8 has also committed to an in-person, co-located work culture — a contrarian stance in tech that the company argues suits Miami’s density of ambitious transplants.

Saxon described Miami as a maturing hub for both finance and technology talent, with a cultural pull that helps the company attract professionals from across the country.

The expansion adds to a run of AI-driven momentum in South Florida’s tech scene. Miami-based Hydra Host, which connects GPU owners with customers seeking computing power, raised $100 million this year at a valuation approaching $800 million with backing from Nvidia and ARK Invest, and startups across the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro attracted nearly $2 billion in venture capital in the first half of 2026, with fintech and AI gaining prominence in the second quarter.

For Miami’s tech boosters, Hut 8’s decision to concentrate headcount in Brickell rather than a legacy tech hub is the kind of proof point the ecosystem has courted since the pandemic-era migration wave: a growing infrastructure company choosing to build its bench — engineers, dealmakers and operators alike — in South Florida.

The company has not publicly detailed a move-in date for the new office, but the message to the local talent market is unambiguous: the AI build-out is hiring, and a meaningful share of it is happening in Miami.