Misfit Labs unveils its AI-native venture studio
Misfit Labs, a Miami-based AI-native venture studio, builds companies alongside founders, handling engineering, compliance, and systems design.
Misfit Labs, an AI-native venture studio founded by a team of former Apple engineers, isn’t just looking to fund the next big thing – it’s looking to build it. By embedding directly into the execution phase of its portfolio companies, the Miami-based studio handles the “heavy lifting” of engineering, HIPAA compliance, and systems design, allowing founders to focus on their domain expertise.
The “Misfit” 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. “In corporate life, you get a pat on the back and you get back to work,” Carriedo said. “I wanted to learn the other side of the business.”
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’s 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.
Misfit Labs was founded in 2022, but recently launched out of stealth mode while quietly working with startups and corporations.
“We saw a big gap in Miami,” explained Gutierrez, Misfit Labs’ managing partner along with Carriedo. Founders were getting taken advantage of by engineering firms, some overseas. “We wanted to help founders build their products and take them to market,” Gutierrez said.