March will be remembered as the month that tech-friendly Silicon Valley Bank failed, a stunning collapse that one local CEO said was "another dagger" for startups that had already been seeing funding options dwindle in recent months. Yet even in these trying times, some companies have shown that where there's a will, there's a way.
The month's biggest fundraising deal, by far, was Tysons events software company Cvent Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: CVT) agreeing to sell itself to private equity giant Blackstone Inc. (NYSE: BX) for $4.6 billion in a transaction that would, once again, take Cvent private.
Another big winner in March was D.C.’s Placemakr, formerly WhyHotel, which raised $65 million and intends to use the proceeds to both acquire more apartments for short- and long-term rentals and upgrade and streamline its tech platform. The real estate tech firm has big plans for the future and is eying $500 million or more in real estate acquisitions over the next 16 months.
Local serial entrepreneur Phillip Merrick, who has co-founded or led three companies that later sold for a combined $1.2 billion, has returned to the startup scene after raising $9 million in a seed financing round for his open-source database company pgEdge Inc.
Climate-focused D.C. geospatial mapping company Impact Observatory raised $6 million in a seed round and D.C.’s own SweetKiwi got $250,000 from investor Robert Herjavec on ABC's "Shark Tank" in exchange for 16% equity in the company.
Others that raised capital in March included:
Fount Global Inc: The D.C. workplace analysis company raised $8 million to hone its tech that finds and fixes internal chokepoints that keep employees from being more effective at their jobs. The series A round was led by Lavrock Ventures, based in McLean, with participation from existing backers Osage Venture Partners, of the Philadelphia area, and Grotech Ventures of Owings Mills, Maryland.
Axios HQ: The Arlington offshoot of the media company Axios raised $20 million to ramp up its hiring and infuse its communications software with AI capabilities like ChatGPT. The series A round was co-led by Connecticut-based Glade Brook Capital Partners and New York-based Greycroft Partners.
Ryse Health: The Arlington diabetes care startup raised $6.5 million to expand its care model for Type 2 diabetes patients. The round's lead investor was Alexandria’s Route 66 Ventures, with participation from Boston’s W Health Ventures and Baltimore’s Healthworx, the innovation arm of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield.
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