Qrvey, Edgybees and more have closed funding rounds in 2021.
Tat'âna Maramygina / EyeEm
From health-tech startups to software firms, D.C.-area companies opened 2021 with fundraising on their agendas — and it’s only picked up in recent weeks.
The first two months of the year brought a growing roster of ventures raising fresh funding — and putting that money to work.
That included Tysons satellite communications startup Omnispace ($60 million); District fintech startup MPower Financing ($25 million); Arlington auto refinancing startup MotoRefi ($10 million); Bethesda primary care company Aledade ($100 million); D.C. ed-tech company Class Technologies, formerly ClassEDU ($30 million); and Rockville vaccine company Immunomic Therapeutics ($16 million).
They’re not the only ones. Here are a handful of noteworthy rounds that have joined that list in recent weeks. Did we miss one? Let us know.
- Qrvey: The Tysons analytics startup said Feb. 16 it raised $8.5 million to grow its sales, marketing and customer experience operations. It plans to add a few dozen people to its now 85-person team, plus make additional engineering hires this year, according to Brian Dreyer, its head of product marketing. The company’s software positions software-as-a-service companies to give their users custom dashboard features that, thanks to Qrvey, they don’t have to build themselves. The company aims to expand its footprint in 2021, moving beyond North America to target companies using Amazon Web Services across the globe, Dreyer said in an email. The raise comes less than a year after the company — a former WBJ Startup of the Week — secured $7.5 million in Series A funding.
- Edgybees: The Gaithersburg geotagging startup said Feb. 17 it took in $9.5 million in Series A funding, in a round led by Seraphim Capital. Refinery Ventures, LG Technology Ventures, Kodem Growth Partners, OurCrowd and Verizon Ventures also participated. Edgybees plans to use the investment for product innovation, global adoption and an aggressive hiring strategy. “Our new partners bring unique industry expertise that optimally positions the company to drive innovation and expand our global footprint,” co-founder and CEO Adam Kaplan said in a statement. “We look forward to our next phase of growth, meeting the crucial demands of defense, public safety, and critical infrastructure operators.”
- Origin Wireless: The Greenbelt-based wireless tech startup announced Feb. 22 it secured $14 million in fresh capital from Verizon Ventures and Alarm.com, alongside other investors. The cash injection positions the business to rapidly commercialize its products, according to Dr. Ray Liu, its founder and CEO. That patented technology, called wirelessAI, provides wireless sensing and tracking technology that allows users to build applications in areas of health, smart home, indoor tracking and others at a lower cost. “As innovators in smart home and business security technology, we actively seek out technologies that offer practical potential application across our platform," Alarm.com Chief Product Officer Dan Kerzner said in a statement. “Investing in Origin and their team broadens our research and development and enhances our efforts to deliver additional value to our partners and customers.”
- Base Operations: The D.C. safety and security startup closed a $2.2 million seed round in mid-February after launching a new threat-mapping platform, TechCrunch first reported. The company plans to continue hiring after already doubling its headcount this year, further developing its product and scaling its global footprint. Good Growth Capital led the raise, with participation from Magma Partners, First In Capital, Gaingels and others.
- Employee Navigator: The Bethesda human resources software company announced Jan. 12 that it raked in $34 million in new funding from Baltimore growth equity firm JMI Equity, to support new hires across the company and advance its products. The company — which licensed its benefits and HR products in 2012 — now serves more than 2,000 insurance brokers, 50,000 employers and more than 10 million employees across the country. “Ultimately, this was an opportunistic fundraise as we’ve been profitable since 2015 and continue to grow profitably despite the Covid-19 headwinds, and we are excited to deliver more great products and services to our customers and partners,” Employee Navigator founder and CEO George Reese said in a statement.
