By Joanna Glasner,

The hype around South Florida as an up-and-coming startup hub isn’t just hype. Seed- and early-stage investment to Sunshine State founders really is up several-fold year over year. And Miami companies are leading the gains.

So far this year, Florida companies have raised just over $1 billion in early-stage funding, per Crunchbase data. That’s nearly quadruple the sum raised in all of 2020, and comes as other investment stages are also posting gains.

What’s driving the momentum? There is certainly a buzz factor. Among tech influencers on Twitter, posts singing the praises of Miami became a thing last winter. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez capitalized on the moment with a social media campaign...