Heading into a busy summer poised to be full of funding news, expansion and hiring, it’s time we take a step back and recognize some of the high-potential startups that may be making moves in the coming months. Every day the local startup scene continues to grow, multiply and mix—and because of that it's often difficult to keep up with all of the emerging companies in our city.
While it's hard enough to keep track of all the news on local startups, gauging the real potential of some of them is even more challenging. Sometimes spotting a winner is easy and other times it just takes instinct and a willingness to have confidence in something you believe shows promise.
As we start to get ready for summer and the usual humid D.C. weather, here are some hot tech startups in Washington, Virginia and Maryland we should be keeping an eye on.
Here are 7 DMV startups to watch this summer:
DroneShield
If name alone decided the success of a startup, then this one would be a winner right away. Lucky for the startup, based in the District at 1776, they have a lot more going for them than simply a name. The company recently raised $150,000 in equity and debt from four unnamed investors. The company develops anti-drone detectors that signal when a device is flying within a localized boundary based on sound recognition software. These products are able to decipher the movement of a drone based on the sound signatures of their propellers—which is important, due to the fact that most drones are designed to be untraceable via radar.
The company works with a host of different companies from both the private and public spheres, including prison systems, home owners and event venue coordinators. Drones are here to stay, and the development of such products will guarantee a market for DroneShield in the future.
ParkedIn
And while we're talking 1776 startups, also part of the incubator is ParkedIn, maker of a mobile application that functions much like Airbnb but for parking in the District. The company has ambitious growth plans and would like to expand to a number of cities as it continues to grow.
Founded just this year, ParkedIn currently has about 20,000 parking spots under its coverage in the District. The company is in the process of securing a seed round raise and we expect them to do so in the coming months. Up until now, ParkedIn was operating in stealth mode as it further developed its application and secured various parking spot contracts, co-founder Matt Provo said. ParkedIn is specializing in securing territory in the District and we expect the company to be expanding its offerings through the summer.
Power Supply
Alexandria, Va.-based PowerSupply works with a network of independent local chefs who craft healthy organic meals that can then be ordered and delivered via an online ordering platform. The company has an awesome local reputation for the quality of its meals and service delivery. As a startup they are growing quickly and have made two acquisitions recently—PowerSupply acquired District-based competitor Healthy Bites as well as Los Angeles-based eliteEATS in the last several months. These acquisitions immediately grow PowerSupply’s current customer base as it will integrate each of those companies and their teams to diversify offerings.
As the summer goes on, it will be interesting to see how Power Supply pivots off of these acquisitions and whether they can take advantage of those customers who are transitioning over. Food-tech startup consolidation is a very real trend and it makes sense for companies hoping to expand into new markets.
Filter
If an advisor’s reputation has a great degree of influence on that startup’s success, then this stealthy news application may already be headed for becoming a winner. (This is undoubtedly our wild card pick.)
D.C.-based Filter is a stealthy news aggregating platform designed for mobile that is planning to provide greater “signal” and less “noise” to readers who want to follow their favorite reporters, writers and publications. Former CQ Roll Call editorial director and editor at the Washington Business Journal, Mike Mills, is listed as an advisor. Competitors of this young startup include Reddit, Nuzzel, and/or Google Play Newsstand.
Filter has yet to launch and little more is known outside of information provided via its AngelList profile.
Perhaps Filter’s greatest feature stems from the way it displays open data relevant to each news story. The idea is to seemingly provide further contextual content/data to enrich the editorial experience. It is unclear how this feature will be built or what it will entail, exactly, since the company is so young. But the idea of objective contextual data/graphics could be awesome when related to a hot news headline, especially when considering how it could influence viral content.
FiscalNote
D.C.-based FiscalNote has been known for its growth potential for a while now, but heading into a competitive and ever congested political campaign season, it may have the opportunity to take it up a level. FiscalNote is known for its legislative analytics and aggregation platform that enables customers to better understand the origins, policies and law makers behind the laws being passed everyday.
In early April, FiscalNote brought on former head of the Washington Post Katharine Weymouth to its advisory board. The move was significant for several reasons. Among them, it meant that the company would be venturing into business with publishers to use its legislative analytics software. The idea being that national promotion of news content power by FiscalNote data could provide not only a significant source of revenue but it would also help with brand recognition marketing efforts. FiscalNote is currently in the process of securing partnership deals with several major news outlets.
It will be interesting to watch how these content related deals work out and which publishers will be using the company’s software. Perhaps more importantly, it is unclear at this time how these publishers will attribute the data they purchase or if they will source it if that is the case.
Invincea
Fairfax, Va.-based cybersecurity firm Invincea has already begun to make waves in both the local and national cybersecurity communities. The company develops software that can detect malware threats, enables end-user threat protection, and can provide pre-breach forensic analysis. As almost every casual reader—and certainly every tech investor—knows, the cybersecurity space is hot right now and everyone is hoping to get a piece of the action. How these rising cybersecurity startups will handle the inherent division between their private and public sphere customers will remain an important distinction between businesses, however.
Invincea already has a strong federal backing, having landed a government research contract for $8.1 million in April. In addition, back in 2012 they struck gold with a $21.4 million U.S. Army contract. The company is well positioned this summer, given the current security atmosphere, to further capitalize on its defense contracts.
Distil Networks
We're going with back-to-back rising cybersecurity names—and it’s no surprise either. Arlington, Va.-based Distil Networks has developed a platform for malware bot detection. Their software platform can help businesses mitigate cyber risks while offering one of the first software-as-a-service options focused on stopping automated cyberattacks. The idea is to make a businesses’ website more secure and thereby give it the confidence that both its customer and financial data is safe. The company has raised $17 million through eight rounds and 11 different investors.
Distil says that it works with a group of Fortune 500 companies, and according to its website the company has now blocked 44 billion “bad bots.” Given the ever growing demand for effective and established cybersecurity solutions, I expected both their customer base and blocked malware bot totals to increase. Summer should be good for Distil.
