There’s no doubt Greater Washington’s venture activity has slowed from the region’s usual pace, courtesy of coronavirus.
But May brought plenty of movement, from Pie Insurance’s whopping $127 million raise to Framebridge’s sale to Graham holdings to Novavax’s steady stream of vaccine development news.
We’ve put together some of the D.C.-area’s top transactions, investments and other moves in a roundup, below.
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New money
D.C. workers compensation startup Pie Insurance raised $127M to grow its special brand of online insurance policies for small businesses. The investment comes as the nation slowly begins to reopen amid the Covid-19 pandemic, which has forced millions of small businesses into total or near shutdowns.
Herndon cybersecurity startup Expel Inc. landed $50 million in a Series D round led by Alphabet Inc. growth fund CapitalG. Expel, which provides a security operations center as a service for other companies, has raised $117.5 million in financing to date, including $40 million last June and $20 million in April 2018… not too shabby for a 4-year-old firm.
Arlington’s Snagajob raised $8 million in equity funding, following a $10 million debt funding raise in February 2019 — and bringing its total funding to date to $141 million. The funding comes under CEO Mathieu Stevenson, who took over the hourly jobs platform in June 2019 after some turnover at the top, layoffs and other changes.
A Norfolk medical device company with strong D.C.-area ties closed its Series A round. Embody Inc. took in $9.3 million in a round led by Litigit LLC, with participation from Cultivate(MD) and 757 Angels. The company said it plans to use the capital to expand its team and launch a new soft tissue repair tech later this year. CEO Jeff Conroy lives in Vienna, while some investors are also based in Greater Washington.
Maryland health tech startup BurnAlong Inc. raised $4 million to continue growing its corporate wellness benefit, amid the nationwide shift to remote work. The round was led by existing investors, a roster that includes Johns Hopkins University, private equity fund Brown Advisory and the Abell Foundation, as well as doctors, friends and family. It also involved new investors including DM Wellness and McLean’s CR2 Capital Ventures. The new capital — which brings total funding to date to $7 million — will be used for hiring, and comes ahead of a larger round planned for later this year.
Rockville medical device startup JuneBrain Inc. took first place in the 2020 Hardware Cup International Finals from Pittsburgh robotic startup accelerator AlphaLab Gear. For the 3-year-old local company, that meant a $50,000 cash prize, in addition to the top trophy. JuneBrain is developing a wearable imaging device for patients with multiple sclerosis that monitors disease activity. The goal? Lead to earlier detection of attacks and improve treatment.
D.C.-based Kazoo LLC is working to raise $250,000 to get its mobile platform across the finish line, per a press release. The app, billed as an all-in-one safety and alerting service, is slated to go live in June. It tracks location history and connects users with emergency call centers around the country. The company’s founders put in an initial $400,000 investment.
The Montgomery County Economic Development Corp. has picked 25 businesses — from tech companies to tailors — to receive funding from its $200,000 Local Production Fund. The program set out to give local manufacturers capital to make PPE and other coronavirus-related products. The grants, ranging from $2,500 to $25,000, will help these companies produce face shields, masks, hand sanitizer, home cleanser, gowns and Covid-19 testing kits. Germantown’s Zalgen Labs, Bethesda’s Joyful Bath Co. and Rockville Robotics Inc. are among those to receive funding.
Acquisitions, expansions, contracts, partnerships
Georgetown custom framing startup Framebridge Inc. sold to publicly traded Graham Holdings Co., a conglomerate of education, media, health care, auto and restaurant businesses. The parties did not disclose a purchase price, but we know that Framebridge’s latest valuation was $136.5 million as of April 2019, with $83.2 million in total funding raised up to that point, according to PitchBook — though, it’s unclear whether Framebridge executives retained their shares. The deal brings closer together two execs that previously shared close business ties: Graham Holdings CEO Tim O’Shaughnessy was a founding investor in Framebridge and has since served as its board chairman. He also worked with Framebridge founder and CEO Susan Tynan at D.C. tech firm LivingSocial before Chicago rival Groupon Inc. absorbed it.
Rockville’s Stellar IT Solutions Inc. acquired Dulles IT firm StanSource Inc. The transaction makes Stellar a 150-person business, though StanSource gets to keep its name and operate as a wholly owned subsidiary. The deal also creates a new tech incubator to foster innovations at the company. The companies did not disclose financial terms of the deal.
Sterling’s Aperiomics Inc. teamed up with Gaithersburg biotech Antibody Biopharm Inc. to offer a rapid antibody test for Covid-19. The Loudoun County diagnostics startup has used its existing testing platform — the same tech involved in its own testing kits — in its Northern Virginia lab to validate and, now, begin offering the test to other laboratories that meet Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments, or CLIA, requirements. But the partners still need a nod from the FDA to administer the test as a point-of-care diagnostic given by doctors and other health care providers, which Aperiomics said it expects within two months.
Herndon’s DocASAP is expanding in a moment of larger growth for telehealth. The patient engagement startup partnered with Indiana’s South Bend Clinic to make its telemedicine and online scheduling platform available to the physician-owned specialty group, which comprises 150 doctors and handles 350,000 visits each year.
Microsoft is bringing a new tech hub to Reston Town Center and plans to invest $64 million in the project, the WBJ reports. The company also plans to create about 1,500 new jobs and solidify its footprint in the region. Microsoft will be eligible for a $22.5 million grant to fund partnerships with local colleges — and yes, you guessed it: create a talent development pipeline with a training program. That will focus on cloud computing and other degrees.
Frontline Connex is now live. Think online job board of sorts, but for the health care industry. Simply put, the D.C. initiative shoots to connect skilled medical workers with provider systems amid the pandemic.
Alexandria’s Savi Technology is working with the Department of Defense to get its logistics tech to the Army National Guard, a 221-unit order amounting to $3.2 million in business. It’s one of two multimillion-dollar orders from the DoD, to help get first responders logistics equipment — Savi’s Portable Deployment Kit, as it’s called — amid the coronavirus crisis. The other? The Army Reserve’s $5.1 million order for 354 units.
D.C. mental health startup Rose has scored a contract with the Baltimore Neighbors Network, which connects volunteers with seniors to help diminish feelings of social isolation, according to Technical.ly. The Rose patient engagement platform, which typically connects doctors and therapists with patients, is functioning as the glue for the program. And with ties to Johns Hopkins University, it makes total sense.
Real estate company Brookfield Properties is helping to feed Southeast D.C. residents — with self-driving cars. It’s teamed up with Optimus Ride to have the vehicles bring boxes of healthy food and groceries to families who could use the hand. It’s expected to feed thousands of people, per WTOP.
Research and development
Gaithersburg biotech Novavax has been busy over the past month, securing up to $388 million from the Norway-based Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to advance its Covid-19 vaccine candidate. The company also began its phase 1 clinical trial, earlier than planned, with results expected in July — making it one of 10 experimental coronavirus vaccines being tested on humans. And it’s taking steps to sell up to $250 million in common stock to build up its cash stockpile alongside its $167 million purchase of a Czech manufacturing facility.
Rockville biopharma Cerecor earned the regulatory clearance it needed to conduct an early-stage clinical trial of a candidate for patients with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, or ARDS, in cases of Covid-19. Data from that study would come in Q4, the company said, making it a long way from the finish line. That said, it’s the only therapy of its kind in clinical development and one of many contenders in the fight against coronavirus.
Rockville diagnostic company 20/20 GeneSystems Inc., which makes blood tests for early cancer detection, will be offering a Covid-19 antibody test after earning what’s called Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA (AKA, making something like this available in a public health crisis) at the beginning of the month. You might be thinking, “So what? We don’t know that having the coronavirus antibody prevents reinfection.” Well, that’s true — so the company’s also collecting data from the patients it’s testing, to train machine learning algorithms and, ultimately, help predict the role of individual antibody levels in reducing the risk or severity of getting the virus again. Pretty cool, huh?
D.C.’s Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. got a green light from the FDA to resubmit its application for a treatment for a developmental disorder called Smith-Magenis Syndrome. It’s a big win for the company, after several setbacks and run-ins with the agency. And it comes as Vanda both grapples with its own delays thanks to Covid, and tests a potential treatment for the disease — now in a phase 3 trial with results expected in Q3.
A genetic research team at Children’s National Hospital is helping D.C.’s public health lab make a special liquid that’s necessary for COVID-19 testing — and in short supply. And it’s ramping up production, though it won’t be able to produce these materials for testing at scale. That work preceded the health system’s win of nearly $1 million from the Federal Communications Commission to stand up a regional pediatric telehealth consortium. It’s part of the FCC’s Covid-19 Telehealth Program, part of the CARES Act, and has OK’d $50 million in funding for 132 health care providers across the country.
Pandemic pivots (and “Shark Tank”)
D.C.’s Soupergirl shut down its retail locations, pulled out of the farmer’s market, switched to a takeout-only service and turned around its delivery model in mid-March. And that came after starting 2020 with aggressive growth plans, after appearing on ABC’s “Shark Tank” in 2018. But coronavirus threw that momentum out the door — and with it went some meaningful revenue streams.
CertifiKid, a 10-year-old family-focused deals startup out of Potomac, also scored airtime on ABC’s “Shark Tank.” And after landing a deal with Kevin O’Leary, it expanded across the country. Then the pandemic hit, and its owners needed to change their game plan. Big time.
Alexandria tool company Little Burros had started the year strong, with high hopes of brick-and-mortar retail sales in stores like Sam’s Club and Home Depot. Then Covid-19 challenged its chances of success, canceling trade shows and closing off the aisles to their products, a line of wheelbarrow trays for gardeners. But on May 1, the company got its five minutes of fame: ABC’s “Shark Tank” featured its pitch, about a year after initially filming the segment.
