Here's the DC Download day two. While you're getting ready for the fireworks this weekend, check out the stories making some noise this morning.
UMd-born battery startup opening research facility in College Park
Custom battery startup FlexEl will open a new research and manufacturing facility in College Park, near its birthplace at the University of Maryland. The startup spun out of research at the university on thin film batteries in 2008 and will lease over 10,000 square-feet from UMd, adding 50 new employees to its current roster of 10 over the next five years. You can read the full announcement here.
UMD's Startup Shell incubator is booming
FlexEl isn't the only startup with a UMd connection that's doing well. The student-run Startup Shell incubator counts dozens of startups created by students among its members and alumni. Artistic decorating, using video games for stroke therapy and an Uber for motorcycle rides are just a few of the projects we spotted. Check these and some of our other favorites in the full story.
Sweetgreen's disruptive salad helps it raise $35M
D.C.-based fast-casual salad chain Sweetgreen is keen on the slow but certain approach to growth, according to its CEO. And it can afford to be certain, thanks in part to the new $35 million funding round it closed, the company's largest to date. Find out more about Sweetgreen's plans from our interview with CEO Jonathan Neman in our full story.
Virginia cybersecurity company opens a Penn State-backed research lab
McLean, Va.-based cybersecurity firm TaaSera announced on Tuesday that it will launch TaaSera Labs, a research lab for developing new ideas to prevent digital security breaches. The lab is a partnership with Penn State Erie, The Behrened College's computer science department. They will be working on making better malware dectection and behavior modeling. Find out more here.
The U.S. is the best country for women entrepreneurs...sort of
Dell released the Global Women Entrepreneur Leaders Scorecard and the U.S. scored the best around the world. Unfortunately that was just with a 71-percent rating. Basically, businesses in the U.S. do well overall, but women are less likely to start businesses here in part due to a culture that discourages them from doing so compared to countries like Nigeria and Ghana. Find out more about the Scorecard here and see U.S. infographics on the results here.
Brazil and the U.S. set aside spying fight to work on cybersecurity
President Obama and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff announced that Brazil and the U.S. will restart an Internet policy working group to improve cybersecurity measures in both countries. The group had become defunct after Brazil became angry with the U.S. after it was leaked that the U.S. had been spying on Brazilian leaders. The increasing threat of Chinese and other countries sending digital attacks may have convinced Brazil to put aside its annoyance with the U.S. Check out the joint announcement here.
