{"id":198129,"date":"2026-03-19T18:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T18:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/198129\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T18:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T18:48:09","slug":"misfit-labs-unveils-its-ai-native-venture-studio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/198129\/","title":{"rendered":"Misfit Labs unveils its AI-native venture studio"},"content":{"rendered":"

Misfit Labs<\/a>, an AI-native venture studio founded by a team of former Apple engineers, isn\u2019t just looking to fund the next big thing \u2013 it\u2019s looking to build it. By embedding directly into the execution phase of its portfolio companies, the Miami-based studio handles the \u201cheavy lifting\u201d of engineering, HIPAA compliance, and systems design, allowing founders to focus on their domain expertise.<\/p>\n

The \u201cMisfit\u201d name is a deliberate nod to the iconic Apple commercial, a tribute to the professional roots of co-founder Kyle Carriedo and some of his partners. A former senior engineer at Apple, Carriedo spent years in Cupertino pitching products to the CEO and building them before moving to Miami in 2015 to help scale LifeWallet through its exit. \u201cIn corporate life, you get a pat on the back and you get back to work,\u201d Carriedo said. \u201cI wanted to learn the other side of the business.\u201d<\/p>\n

To that end, he connected with Joey Gutierrez, a Miami-born entrepreneur and Florida International University alum with a background and experience in investment banking and infrastructure finance, as well as involvement in his family\u2019s business. While Carriedo brought a team of developers to Misfit Labs, Gutierrez brought the financial modeling and partnership strategy expertise necessary to turn code into a company. <\/p>\n

Misfit Labs was founded in 2022, but recently launched out of stealth mode while quietly working with startups and corporations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw a big gap in Miami,\u201d explained Gutierrez, Misfit Labs\u2019 managing partner along with Carriedo. Founders were getting taken advantage of by engineering firms, some overseas. \u201cWe wanted to help founders build their products and take them to market,\u201d Gutierrez said.<\/p>\n

Misfit Labs is leaning heavily into the\u00a0 technological shift with AI, but with a grounded perspective they call \u201cHuman in the Loop.\u201d Despite the studio\u2019s engineers reporting that AI now handles a massive portion of their coding output, the partners insist that veteran human oversight and expertise is more critical than ever.<\/p>\n

In this AI world, you need expertise to tell the AI when it\u2019s going off track, Carriedo and Gutierrez noted. MisFit Labs leverages AI to be more efficient and innovative, but the passion and the grit come from the humans.<\/p>\n

Misfit\u2019s five partners are focusing their energy on healthcare, infrastructure, and AI enterprise software. Their current portfolio highlights that approach.<\/p>\n

Wellup, one of its flagship portfolio ventures, tackles a part of healthcare often overlooked: the social factors that determine outcomes. Built in partnership with medical leaders and behavioral health experts, the platform connects community organizations, enabling better coordination around issues like transportation, food access, and mental health. It\u2019s a system designed not just to treat illness, but to address the conditions that cause it.<\/p>\n

Another venture, Lotus Disability, focuses on supporting employees navigating life-altering disabilities, offering tools for care navigation and benefits management. It\u2019s a modern care navigation platform for employees and caregivers navigating the complex disability system.<\/p>\n

And a third one is CodeBake \u2013 an internal AI project homegrown in Miami that reimagines how engineering teams work, replacing traditional meetings and project management layers with AI-driven workflows for engineers that prioritize speed and clarity rather than unproductive meetings, Carriedo said.<\/p>\n

Beyond startups, the venture studio gets involved with corporate innovation and partners with large institutions to build internal AI labs. Misfit Labs is currently working with a large health system to identify gaps in clinical operations and build proprietary software solutions.<\/p>\n

The launch of Misfit Labs comes at a turning point for the Miami tech ecosystem. Following the volatility of the crypto era, Gutierrez and Carriedo are eager to help restore the city\u2019s reputation through lean operations and tangible products.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t follow the regular playbook of VCs,\u201d Gutierrez said. \u201cThey\u2019ve got a Toyota Corolla and they put a Ferrari engine in it. We bring a different thinking of venture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Misfit Labs plans to be highly selective of the founders and projects they work with, aiming to launch roughly four ventures a year while ramping up thought leadership through white papers and community engagement, Gutierrez said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love Miami. We want to bring back tech,\u201d adds Carriedo, referring to getting past what he called the black stain on Miami from the crypto hype. \u201cWe want to help Miami with our expertise, with our innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pictured above in the AI-generated illustration of the Misfit Labs partners: top row, left to right: Managing Partners Joey Gutierrez\u00a0and Kyle Carriedo. Bottom row, left to right: Scott Johns, Ben Sharpe, and Anthony Alviz.<\/p>\n

READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:<\/p>\n

\"Nancy<\/a> I am a writer and editor with extensive media experience and a passion for journalism and serving the community. Most of my career has been spent with the Miami Herald in business news, and my expertise is writing about tech and entrepreneurs. I love hosting this blog for Refresh Miami and we aim to be the go-to site for South Florida startup and tech news, features and views. Have news? Contact me at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>. Thanks for reading! \"Nancy<\/a>Latest posts by Nancy Dahlberg (see all<\/a>) \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Misfit Labs, an AI-native venture studio founded by a team of former Apple engineers, isn\u2019t just looking to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-198129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}