Fall: the season that turns leaves brown, causes pumpkin spice lattes in cardboard Starbucks cups to litter the streets and encourages ESPN's NFL curmudgeon Chris Berman to grace television screens everywhere with his combover. It's a beautiful time of the year that typically reminds most Americans that the Christmas sales cycle for products gets a little longer every 365 days and that an equally unwelcomed winter is around the corner.
...But there's also some goods news that comes from it. Like a hot new list of local, rising startups to keep your eyes on courtesy of DC Inno!
Here are 5 DMV startups to watch this fall:
BrainScope (Bethesda, Md.)
- Industry: healthtech
- Technology: hardware to measure electrical activity in the brain
- What they do: flagship device, the Ahead 200, can detect concussions
- Growth stage: mature Series C
- Funding/money raised: more than $35 million
- Hiring status: unknown
Brainscope is a medical hardware developer, invested in by former AOL President Steve Case and his venture capital firm Revolution, which has created a device that can detect concussions. Case’s wife, Jean Case, sits on the company’s board and the pair continue to be involved in its development. BrainScope’s devices are used in cases of both sports and active combat injuries. Since being founded in 1990, the company has raised an impressive amount of funding, including a $500,000 endorsement from the NFL and General Electric along with a $27 million Defense Department research contract. Originally based in St. Louis, BrianScope relocated to Bethesda in 2008 under Case's guidance.
Aquicore (Washington, D.C.)
- Industry: greentech, energy management
- Technology: hardware and software
- What they do: focused on providing products to clients in the commercial real estate space
- Growth stage: Early-stage Series A
- Funding/money raised: more than $7 million
- Hiring status: yes
In early September, Aquicore and tech incubator 1776 jointly announced that the greentech startup was among the first names to receive funding from the incubators new $12.5 million seed fund. Salesforce founder Marc Benioff and Efficient Capacity LLC also joined the round. Aquicore develops sensors and a software platform aimed at the commercial real estate market to help improve energy efficiency in building. Customers of Aquicore include office building landlords and energy management companies. As DC Inno’s Eric Schwarts previously reported, “the money will be used to scale up Aquicore's presence, with a dozen new hires in sales and marketing.” The hiring bump, CEO Logan Soya said, will lead to future sales, nationally.
Brainsy (Washington, D.C.)
- Industry: communications software
- Technology: a white label B2B communications platform used to connect reps with customers
- What they do: providing an on-demand, over-the-phone, advice/information network
- Growth stage: early stage, pre-revenue seed
- Funding/money raised: undisclosed seed funding
- Hiring status: yes
Brainsy is the developer of a white label software platform that can be best described as a sort of cross between Google Helpouts and a booking/scheduling system layered with an income stream. It’s an expert calling network that offers a way to connect providers/experts with people looking for professional information/advice and/or perspective. Designed as a niche marketplace for expert discussion and opinion, users can tap into calls that are set with fixed rates—set by Brainsy clients—and time slots. The company’s revenue model is based on charging licensing fees or call translation fees, dependent on the client/company using the platform. Customers include trade organizations and professional societies looking for alternative revenue streams. Investors include TomorrowVentures, the personal investment arm of Alphabet (formerly Google) Chairman Eric Schmidt.
CargoSense (Reston, Va.)
- Industry: logistics
- Technology: software for tracking package conditions and locations
- What they do: platform is hardware agnostic, layered over sensors placed in shipping vehicles
- Growth stage: early stage Series A
- Funding/money raised: over $4 million
- Hiring status: yes
This Reston-based company is making moves and quickly growing. Founded in 2013 by CEO Richard Kilmer, Reston, Va.-based CargoSense’s technology is used to track the conditions and location of high-value packages while they are transported. Chief marketing officer Craig Montgomery tells DC Inno that CargoSense has “tripled in both revenue and customer numbers since 2014.” In addition, the 8-person logistics startup has doubled in number of employees since 2014. Montgomery declined to name the startup’s current clients or a total count, but said that “75 percent of our [CargoSense] customers are focused on healthcare/pharmaceuticals. The remaining 25 percent are focused on logistics as their core business.”
Avizia (Reston, Va.)
- Industry: healthtech
- Technology: mobile video connection hardware w/ some software integration
- What they do: creators of rolling, monitor terminals that are enhanced for doctor to patient work
- Growth stage: early stage Series A
- Funding/money raised: more than $5 million
- Hiring status: yes
Avizia specializes in a technology called telemedicine—known as the use of telecoms and information technology to help better connect doctors with patients at a distance via video. By using Cisco TelePresence tech to enable high-definition, real-time video collaboration between hospital nurses, patients and doctors, this startup is quickly gaining customers and expanding its team. Currently, more than 420 hospitals are active customers of Avizia’s mobile, video conferencing hardware and software. Roughly 70 new clients were added since January, CEO Mike Baird previously told DC Inno, and that’s a conservative total count.
