Happy Friday everyone. Today you'll notice a few style changes to the Beat. Enjoy
...Lets Get Started
THE BIG ONE
Chris: Facebook just released its statistics on employee diversity, and…surprise! Facebook disappoints in a number of ways, including that 91% of employees are either white or Asian. While that’s not great, you may also find it interesting that Facebook’s leadership is 73% white and what it defines as its “non-tech” team is about 62% white. In a blog post accompanying the data, Facebook wrote, “Diversity is central to Facebook’s mission of creating a more open and connected world … while we have achieved positive movement over the last year, it’s clear to all of us that we still aren’t where we want to be.”
Truth is: Zuck’s newest workforce report is far from an anomaly in the tech scene and earlier this year Airbnb released a very similar set of diversity numbers. Also, it’s important to note that the report’s data is actually from 2013 — so it’s possible Facebook has improved on this front. The equivalent report for 2014 hasn't been released yet. On the same day that the Supreme Court rules in favor of marriage equality, it’s important to at least remember that, within the tech industry, we still have work to do.
Eric: Step one is acknowledging the problem, but Facebook and the rest of the tech world have many more steps to take.
MAKING MOVES
Chris: Another local tech company has IPO’d. IoT software security company Alarm.com began trading this morning on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol ALRM. The company priced its shares at $14, sold 7M shares and raised $98M in the process. Alarm.com had been purchased from Microstrategy for $27.7M byABS Capital Partners in 2009. The company develops cybersecurity products for Internet-connected devices and utilities. It’s definitely a big growth market but it's nascent. Best of luck to Alarm. [Read more.]
Eric: You're right it may be a bit early for this sort of thing, which I'm sure investors might find alarming.
Chris: Yes. Larry Hogan approved the Purple Line but it only came with a long list of funding conditions. The passage is being hailed as a victory by Hogan’s PR team but the story behind it is a bit more complicated than it’s being described as. Hogan characterized Maryland's savings as a cut from $700M to $168M but that top-end figure is more likely to have been around $350M rather than $700M — since Maryland would only front half of the bill. [Here’s the full story from Brian]
Eric: If Hogan can make the Purple Line happen, it will get him plenty of approval in MoCo, where traffic or hour-long metro rides are the prospects faced when traveling East right now. At the very least it might distract from the angry response to his rescinding of anti-discrimination rules for state employees.
Chris: Grotech Ventures, the prominent Vienna-based venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage investments, is in the process of raising up to $200M for a new fund, according to an SEC filing. The firm is a big investor in the local tech scene, having backed startups like Optoro, Invincea and LivingSocial before they got big. Grotech typically invests between $500K and $5M in high growth potential tech startups. [Here’s our article on why it may be beneficial to the DC tech scene]
UNWANTED FEEDBACK
Chris: It's been a little while since we have had a suggestion, but I think I would file this one under useful. One of our awesome readers named David mentioned a few styling suggestions -- some of which you may notice today. We met him half-way on the subject headlines. Anyways, thanks for the email, David.
WHAT WE'RE READING
- Virginia's CIT GAP Fund Invests In Creators of Diabetes Monitoring Smartphone App
- Eastern Foundry Will Open a New K Street Space This Fall
- How to Livestream the SpaceX Rocket Launch on Sunday
- Help Plan NASA's First Mars Mission
REACH OUT
Tips? Rumblings? Complaints? Something you want to see in the email?: Reid@dcinno.com & Chris@dcinno.com
