Lightning Capital launches $100M Fund II to back Miami startups
What's the deal? Miami-based Lightning CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has launched its $100 million second fund, Fund II, doubling down on South Florida startups. The venture firm, led by Managing Partner Jason Albanese, holds 12 active portfolio companies, including construction technology company Togal.AIDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
The strategy: Lightning looks for businesses with specialized data and technology that broad AI models cannot easily replicate. Albanese said the firm is particularly interested in AI's "ripple effects," from construction to data center cooling and energy efficiency.
Why Togal? Lightning invested in Togal in 2024, betting as much on the team's ability to execute as on the technology itself. Many of the firm's general partners have run companies themselves, which shapes how they evaluate founders.
What Togal is building: The Miami startup uses machine learning to automate construction takeoffs — measuring and quantifying materials from building plans. It now counts 97 of the 400 largest US contractors as customers, with more than 10,000 users across 32 countries.
Its next target is prediction. With more than 32 million labeled construction plans, founder Patrick Murphy said Togal is training models to infer plumbing, electrical, drywall, and HVAC details from early-stage plans — potentially compressing months of work into minutes. Internally, Murphy estimated more than 95% of the company's code is now written with AI assistance.
The Miami bet: Both firm and founder frame their partnership as a sign that South Florida startups can now find capital, connections, and operating experience close to home. Albanese has watched the shift over five years running Lightning in Miami.
"The trend line is going up and to the right. It's not flattening," he said, pointing to investors and tech leaders who moved into the region and later increased their commitments.
The signal: Neither expects Miami to become another Silicon Valley — nor do they want it to. "Everyone's going to have their own flavor," Murphy said. "Not everyone needs to be the same and the best at everything." A local fund backing a local startup is exactly the kind of self-reinforcing loop a maturing ecosystem needs.
Read more: refreshmiami.com
Image credit: kud4ipad
