November brought big numbers on the local funding round front — both in quantity and size.
Herndon customer identity startup Strivacity Inc. raked in $9.3 million. Arlington med-tech startup OxiWear Inc. secured $1.25 million in the company’s first institutional round. And D.C. maternal health startup Babyscripts nabbed another $7.5 million, not to be confused with its $12 million in September.
Herndon cybersecurity company Expel Inc. raised $140.3 million — late-stage funding that pushed its valuation past the coveted $1 billion unicorn status. And if that wasn’t enough, neighboring Herndon data analytics firm HawkEye 360 Inc. locked in $145 million to build more satellites and expand, after raising $55 million in April.
Related: All of the fundings through January and February, March and April, May, June, July, August, September and October.
But as always, many more D.C.-area companies scored investments throughout the month — some alongside spinouts and launches, others building off of recent raises and more kickstarting their next stages. We’re tracking them here:
- Scythe: The Arlington cybersecurity venture said Nov. 8 it closed a $10 million Series A funding round. Gula Tech Adventures of Columbia, Maryland and D.C.'s Paladin Capital Group led the raise, alongside investment from New York's Energy Impact Partners — which brings an EIP management team member to the startup’s board. The capital infusion means Scythe will be able to expand its engineering, sales and marketing, and customer service operations, it said in its announcement.
- RegScale Inc.: The Tysons venture announced Nov. 30 that it had secured $1.5 million after spinning out from C2 Labs Inc. That financing came from Herndon's Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp., formerly the Center for Innovative Technology; D.C.'s New Dominion Angels; and multiple other strategic investors, according to RegScale. The new funding will allow the business to accelerate innovation, reduce risk “and lower the costs of manual compliance documentation, which our customers are demanding,” Travis Howerton, its co-founder and chief technology officer, said in a statement. RegScale first went live in early 2021 under brand Atlasity, and said it has since added customers including the U.S. Air Force, the Department of Homeland Security, an unnamed Fortune 500 financial services company and others.
- Hydrosat Inc.: The D.C. data analytics startup, which uses satellites to gather surface temperature information, said Nov. 16 it raised $10 million in new funding. OTB Ventures led the round, and a handful of other investors also participated: Freeflow Ventures of Pasadena, California, Cultivation Capital of St. Louis, California's Santa Barbara Venture Partners and Expon Capital of Luxembourg. The capital positions Hydrosat to speed up the commercialization of its subscription-based product, and comes quickly after a $5 million raise in June.
- SnapAttack: The Booz Allen Hamilton spinout went live in mid-November, and announced Nov. 16 $8 million in fresh funding in a round led by Volition Capital of Boston. Strategic Cyber Ventures of D.C., as well as Booz, also made investments. The startup’s software, under official business name Threatology Inc., protects against cyber threats. “SnapAttack is poised to empower a new level of collaboration among the next generation of ethical hackers, threat hunters and security researchers providing advanced insights to stop attackers in their tracks,” Fred Frey, chief technology officer and founding member of the SnapAttack team, said in a statement.
- FarmRaiser Inc.: The fundraising startup announced Nov. 9 an oversubscribed Series A round led by 1219 Capital Partners of Richmond, Virginia, with participation from the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp. and others. The total size of the raise was not disclosed, but 1219 Managing Partner Eric Sprehe said in an email that “it was an oversubscribed seven-figure growth investment,” and data firm PitchBook pegs the round at $1.5 million. The backing positions the company to add more businesses and charities to its platform. FarmRaiser was located in Arlington until Amazon bought its building, and the startup moved to Richmond in March 2020. But it maintains a strong D.C.-area presence, with its founders based in the District and Bethesda.
