In covering the D.C. innovation economy comes the inevitable: funding news. Trust us, there's a lot of it floating around the D.C. metro area. Here's a roundup of all of the major funding news from the region in June:
Arcadia Power
- Washington, D.C.-based green tech startup Arcadia Power announced a new $6 million Series A round on June 1, led by Energy Impact Partners. The startup is aimed at making renewable energy sources more accessible for people who can't install solar panels on their homes or access wind power as easily. Bringing on New York City-based Energy Impact Partners is a big win for the emerging startup. The VC fund is slowly building up a portfolio of energy startups in the D.C. area, starting with its lead investment in SparkFund in February. To date, with the new round, Arcadia Power has raised $10 million in venture funding since its founding in 2014. CEO and founder Kiran Bhatraju said they plan to use the new funding to further expand their two core products and bring a few new partnerships to life.
NRV
- Richmond-based venture capital firm NRV raised $33 million to invest in early-stage businesses throughout Richmond and the rest of Virginia, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on June 7. NRV, formerly known as New Richmond Ventures, raised the new fund with contributions from 83 investors across Virginia.
Trustify
- Arlington, Va. startup Trustify, the startup aimed at making it easier to get a private investigator, closed about $6.5 million in funding, according to an SEC filing on June 7. The filing states that the company intends to close up to $7.69 million, and it's unclear if the rest is already raised or if the company is still shopping around for investors. Trustify previously closed a total of $3.4 million, not including this new funding, from various seed rounds, according to its Crunchbase profile. In April, the startup moved into a dreamy new office that has panoramic views of the Washington Monument and Arlington.
BlueFin Capital
- Arlington, Va.-based BlueFin Capital closed $500,000 of a $2 million raise, according to an SEC filing on June 12. The firm started this year, and the date of first sale for the current round was June 2, 2017 with a minimum investment of $25,000 from outside investors. Both Brian Walters of Wyndmoor, Pa. and Geoffrey Urquhart of of Needham, Mass. are listed as directors of the firm.
GreenLeaf Medical
- Gaithersburg, Md.'s GreenLeaf Medical closed a $5.9 million raise, according to an SEC filing on June 13. Back in March, the group had closed just $1.6 million of what was supposed to be a $4 million round. The funding will be used to expand the company into Pennsylvania and Ohio, while also using it to support Maryland operations.
Outdoor Access
- Richmond, Va.-based Outdoor Access has closed $1 million of what will be a $2 million round, according to an SEC filing on June 14. The company offers rental, short-term land spaces for hunting, fishing, hiking, camping and more. Think of it like an Airbnb, but for people who have plenty of land and are looking to rent it for a few hours. Prior to the current raise, Outdoor Access had raised a $750,000 venture round.
Bright Greens
- Kellogg's VC arm is seeing some promise in one local area company. The investment fund led a $2 million fundraising round in plant-based smoothies maker Bright Greens, based in Rockville, Md, announced on June 15. eighteen94, the VC fund housed in Kellogg, debuted last summer and plans to invest about $100 million into startups pioneering new ingredients, foods and packaging. Bright Greens offers a frozen product that turns into a smoothie simply by adding some water and shaking the container — the idea being that you can have something healthy but, ya know, convenient.
Mariner Exchange
- Annapolis, Md.-based Mariner Exchange closed a $200,000 round of funding, according to a SEC filing on June 16. You can think of it like Angie's List, but for people looking for someone to come fix their boats. People list their services, and customers leave reviews. You can also pay someone via the app, if you're feeling it. The app launched last summer, and it's unclear if the group has raised any additional funds to date.
MKACyber
- Fairfax, Va.-based security consulting firm MKACyber recently closed a $4.1 million Series A round, according to a press release on June 19. The new funds will be used to extend some of the clients sales initiatives, customer support and marketing activities. MKACyber develops monitoring technology that helps companies and groups assess current threats and attacks while also seeing where they're vulnerable in their network.
RightEye
- According to an SEC filing on June 20, Bethesda, Md.-based RightEye has secured $7.2 million in funding. The health tech company uses eye-tracking technology as a health measurement meter, such as gauging if an athlete has a concussion or helping people expand their periphery vision. Not including the recent filing, RightEye has raised $3.11 million in two rounds, including a $2.11 million round that closed in March 2016.
CleanCapital
- New York-based CleanCapital has finalized a $2.43 million investment round. The clean energy investment company might be based in NYC, but a number of its key executives are located in the District, and the new funding could potentially lead to new local finance and tech jobs. CleanCapital gives institutional investors the opportunity to invest in solar energy projects. It closed its first round in August at $21 million from 30 individual investors.
Omnispace
- Tysons Corner-based satellite tech company Omnispace raised $30 million on June 22. Omnispace's product is a hybrid satellite wireless platform aimed at making it easier for customers to communicate with others in rural locations or oil rigs. Investors include Alexandria-based firms Columbia Capital and Telecom Ventures.
Barkly Pets
- D.C.-based dog walking startup Barkly Pets raised a $500,000 seed round on June 23. The round was led by New Jersey-based Newark Venture Partners, which makes sense seeing as the startup has plans to expand to New Jersey next month. Currently, they're operating in the D.C. metro area, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York metro area.
SparkFund
- Washington, D.C.-based SparkFund is close to closing in on a $17 million raise, according to a SEC filing on June 27. The company recently reporting raising about $13 million of the full raise. SparkFund works to simplify how organizations use energy efficient technologies. The startup previously closed a $7 million Series B round in February.
TransVoyent
- Alexandria-based TransVoyent has raised $500,000 of a potential $5.3 million round, according to a SEC filing on June 27. TransVoyent claims it predicts the future, but really, it's using predictive analytics powered by IoT devices and advanced machine learning algorithms to assess a company's risk points, possible supply chain disruptions and so on. Founded in 2011, it's unclear if the startup has raised a round of funding before based on its Crunchbase profile.
UrbanStems
- After a pretty rocky Valentine's Day, D.C. startup UrbanStems is emerging with a fresh game plan with the hiring of a chief operations officer and a new $6 million round of funding backed by Haas Portman, SWaN & Legend, NextGen, GSW Investments and Grouch. With the new funding, the company is hoping to use that to strengthen its existing markets. To date, UrbanStems has now raised $14.3 million in funding, including a $6.8 million Series A round last year.
Xometry
- For the second time this year, Maryland-based startup Xometry has brought in a pretty sizable venture round. Led by BMW's venture arm, the latest round announced on June 28 brings an additional $15 million to the startup aspiring to be the "Amazon of manufacturing." With the round, BMW i Venture's partner Zach Barasz will join Xometry's board of directors. Add this to the $7 million round Xometry announced in February, led by GE's venture arm. To date, Xometry has now raised $38 million.
FS Card
- FS Card filed a Form D for $30 million in funding on June 28. This filing follows the announcement of an $8 million round in May, and as CEO Marla Blow explains to me, "Some of our existing investors exercised their pro rata rights as part of the last capital raise, and we amended the filing to reflect the last dollars in the door." Nonetheless, that's an impressive raise for the local startup.
Racktop Systems
- Fulton, Md.-based cyber data management startup Racktop Systems has raised $220,000 of what is projected to be a $2.5 million round, according to an SEC filing on June 29. The company last raised a $750,000 round in February 2015. Racktop Systems develops foundational IT appliances for businesses and organizations.
