Image courtesy of The Iron Yard
Each day, DC Inno highlights the moves companies are making—from mergers and acquisitions to shutdowns—in our daily newsletter, The Beat. Trust us, though, we know how difficult it is to keep up. Each quarter we round up "The Departed," or startups that have left the D.C. metro area, been acquired or merged or even shut down. Here's what happened in the third quarter of 2017:
The Shuttered
- The Iron Yard: Coding school The Iron Yard is shutting down all of its locations, including its D.C. campus. The Iron Yard plans to finish out all of its summer courses, including the student Demo Day and four-weeks of post-course career support, before shutting down completely on Oct. 13. The Iron Yard put its roots down in D.C. in late 2014, and its campus just moved to a new space downtown in December.
- Enterprise CarShare Program: Enterprise announced on July 6 it would be closing its CarShare program in six markets, including D.C.; however, the service will still be available to universities and businesses that rely on it. The program allowed members to rent a car by the hour, day or overnight.
The Merged and Acquired
- FiscalNote: Washington, D.C.-based FiscalNote acquired Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based VoterVoice on July 31. The government analytics startup plans to bring in the entire company's 24 employees and 1,100 clients into FiscalNote.
- Measure: Washington, D.C.-based Measure, a B2B drone company, acquired Pilatus Unmanned on Aug. 3. Doing so allows Measure to expand the company's drone engineering and equipment capabilities, add new leadership and a new design facility to its mix in Huntington Beach, Calif. Josh Kornoff, Pilatus Unmanned's CEO, will now lead Measure's engineering team in Huntington Beach as a part of the acquisition. The news comes after Measure closed a $15 million funding round in January.
- Search Technologies: Accenture acquired Herndon, Va.-based technology service firm Search Technologies on Aug. 4. The terms for the deal were not disclosed. Search Technologies' 200-person team will be joining Accenture, according to a press release.
- Omniplex: Reston, Va.-based Constellis acquired Chantilly, Va.-based Omniplex, which provides protective and investigative services to government and commercial customers, on Aug. 15. No financial terms were disclosed.
- Personal: Personal, a D.C.-based data privacy company, is merging with London-based digi.me, according to an announcement on Aug. 17. Personal has been backed by both Revolution Ventures and Monumental Sports & Entertainment owner Ted Leonsis. Under the merger, most of Personal's 22 employees will be folded into digi.me. Personal's enterprise data privacy business will be spun out into its own separate company called TeamData.
- RedOwl: Baltimore, Md.-based security analytics company RedOwl was acquired by Forcepoint on Aug. 29. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. RedOwl raised more than $21 million in venture funding from investors such as In-Q-Tel, Blackstoneand Conversion Capital. RedOwl's teams will be merged with Forcepoint, and it's not clear how many employees will be transferred over in the move. Forcepoint is a division of cyber firm Raytheon.
- RainKing: Bethesda, Md.-based sales intelligence provider RainKing was acquired by DiscoverOrg, a portfolio company of TA Associates, according to a press release on Aug. 29. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. RainKing raised about $67 million in funding from Spectrum Equity prior to the deal. Each company has ranked on the Inc. 5000 list multiple times.
- Masquerade: D.C.-based startup Masquerade was acquired by D.C.-based consignment shop SnobSwap, according to an email press release on Sept. 6. Masquerade provided a one-stop shop for consumers who wanted to sell apparel and accessories across different sites and platforms. Masquerade's tech will be absorbed into SnobSwap's existing e-commerce platforms.
- Baltimore Sound Engineering: Baltimore Sound Engineering was acquired by Corbett Technology Solutions on Sept. 7. Baltimore Sound was a Baltimore, Md.-based maker of solutions for communication systems. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
- Surefire Local: Tysons Corner-based digital marketing platform Surefire Local acquired Sequoia IMS, according to reports on Sept. 11. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the deal will add more than 400 customers and about a dozen employees to Surefire's roster.
- Kesala: Columbia, Md.-based company Kesala was acquired by Silent Circle, according to a press release on Sept. 14. Kesala, which gained initial startup support from DataTribe, created the product GoSilent, a compact mobile firewall. The product fits in nicely with Silent Circle's existing product suite: security products for desktops, laptops, servers, mobile phones and IoT devices.
- TeamPeople: It looks like Falls Church, Va.-based TeamPeople was acquired by Pittsburgh-based System One, according to reports on Sept. 18. TeamPeople, which specialized in staffing in the multimedia industry, will be known as "TeamPeople Division of System One." Financial terms were not disclosed.
- InfoZen: A Northern Virginia company has acquired Bethesda, Md.-based InfoZen for $180 million in cash on Sept. 19. Herndon, Va.-based government contractor ManTech International Corp. acquired the company, which is also a government contractor. InfoZen will add 300 employees to ManTech's company, including CEO Raj Ananthanpillai. ManTech's president said he didn't anticipate layoffs in the merger.
- Vivabox: Gaithersburg, Md.-based Vivabox was acquired by Lion Equity Partners on Sept. 20. Vivabox provides products and services for the sample and subscription box industry. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- CIS Secure Computing: Dulles, Va.-based CIS Secure Computing, a provider of computing and communication solutions for government and commercial customers, has been acquired by private equity firm Acorn Growth, according to a press release on Sept. 26. Financial terms for the deal were not disclosed.
Other Moves of Note
- 1776: The Washington Business Journal reported on Sept. 20 that 1776 is finalizing a deal to be absorbed into Philadelphia-based co-working company Benjamin's Desk. The story was first reported by D.C. tech critic Glen Hellman on his blog on Sept. 19. The deal is expected to close in October, and if it goes through, investors from both Benjamin's Desk and 1776 would put more money into the combined company. Benjamin's Desk would be able to keep and use the 1776 brand, while 1776's Union software would be spun out into its own company.
- BroadSoft: Gaithersburg, Md.-based BroadSoft is considering a possible sale, Reuters reported on Aug. 31. The publicly-traded enterprise cloud communications company has a market cap just over $1.4B. The discussion comes as BroadSoft continues to face increased competition from companies like Cisco Systems.
- SmartCEO: SmartCEO is getting a revival. The Baltimore-based media company shut down in April after running low on cash. Now, a new owner is coming in to revive the publication, according to reports on Aug. 30. Owner James McDonald plans to start publishing online again in September in D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. The first print publication will come out in October.
Did we miss anything? Hit me up at ssabin@americaninno.com.
