In covering the D.C. innovation economy comes the inevitable: funding news. Trust us, there's a lot of it floating around the D.C. metro area. Here's a roundup of all of the major funding news from the region in November:
Benjamin's Desk/1776
The company formerly known as Benjamin's Desk has raised $1.185 million of an expected $5 million round, according to a recent SEC filing. As first reported by Technical.ly Philly on Nov. 1, co-CEOs Anthony and Jennifer Maher are raising the round under their old name to support future growth and invest more in resources for 1776 members. Benjamin's Desk was formerly an entirely bootstrapped company. 1776 closed a $7.2 million strategic investment in 2016 from Steve Case, Pepper Group, K Street Capital and Kiddar Capital.
NextGen Venture Partners
NextGen Venture Partners is raising a second fund aimed at $50 million, The Washington Business Journal reported on Nov. 6. NextGen last raised a $22 million fund in March, which they began raising in Sept. 2016. The fund is the second since NextGen morphed from a network of angel investors to a venture capital firm in 2016.
ThinkFoodGroup
- José Andrés has had a busy month. First, he's spent most of it in Puerto Rico making meals for those impacted by Hurricane Maria. Now, a subsidiary of his company ThinkFoodGroup has raised $16 million, according to SEC filings on Nov. 7. It's possible the money is going towards a New York City-based food hall Andrés is building up as a mecca for Spanish cuisine, but ThinkFoodGroup could not comment. Fred Schaufeld, co-founder of SWaN & Legend Venture Partners, is spotted as a "related persons" in the SEC filing.
Resonate
Big name money news coming out of Resonate on Nov. 8. The Reston, Va.-based startup has raised $8 million in funding, as Fortune's Term Sheet reported. Argentum led the round, and investors Revolution Growth and Greycroft Partners also joined. To date, the SaaS-enabled, consumer intelligence software provider has now raised $37 million over four venture rounds, according to its Crunchbase profile.
Enveil
Washington, D.C.-based Enveil landed a $4 million strategic funding investment from its partners, including Thomson Reuters, Bloomberg Beta and DataTribe, according to a press release on Nov. 9. Founded in September 2016, Enveil offers a never-decrypted data security platform aimed at protecting data while it is processed. The new funding will go towards product development and customer support. Enveil closed a $1 million seed round in late 2016 from DataTribe.
Ecological Service Partners
Washington, D.C.-based Ecological Service Partners raised $250 million in funding, according to Fortune's Term Sheet on Nov. 10. Founded in 2016, this is the ecological restoration provider's first round of funding, based on its Crunchbase profile. According to its website, ESP purchases land or interests in land and then restore or enhance them to maintain the long-term conservation of the properties. Investors were not disclosed.
ThreatQuotient
Reston, Va.-based ThreatQuotient closed a $30 million round, the company announced on Nov. 13. One of its investors? Cisco Systems, which, as The Washington Business Journal noted, has been on a bit of an acquisition free-for-all lately. The threat intelligence platform provides customers with a wealth of cyber threat data and helps companies assess their own internal systems for weaknesses. Adams Street Properties led the latest round, with participation from NTT DoCoMo, New Enterprise Associates and Silicon Valley Bank. To date, ThreatQuotient has now raised $54 million.
WireWheel.io
Arlington, Va.-based WireWheel.io landed a $3.1 million seed financing round with some pretty big names attached to it, according to a press release on Nov. 14. The data privacy and protection platform raised funds from PSP Growth, New Enterprise Associates, and the round saw participation from Steve Case, Sean Glass and others. The funds will be used to hire tech workers, build out the product and start user testing. WireWheel.io is headed up by Justin Antonipillai, the former acting undersecretary of economic affairs at the U.S. Department of Commerce in the Obama administration.
CleanCapital
Washington, D.C.-based CleanCapital has closed a $3.7 million Series A round, the company announced on Nov. 15. The round had 50 investors, including Jeff Phillips, treasurer & co-founder of the Corporate Climate Alliance, and Bradley Pattelli, former chief investment officer of LendingClub. CleanCapital is an investment platform that manages clean energy projects for investors.
ReFirm Labs
Fulton, Md.-based ReFirm Labs closed a $1.5 million seed round, according to a press release on Nov. 16. DataTribe led the round. The IoT security startup focuses on protecting your smart devices from being hacked remotely.
Axios
Arlington, Va.-based media startup Axios closed a $20 million round, The Wall Street Journal reported on Nov. 17. Greycroft Partners and Lerer Hippeau Ventures both led the round, and both investors participated in the $10 million round in 2016. Axios plans to use the funds to expand its data analysis, product development and audience. They also plan to hire aggressively, bringing their current staff from 89 to 150 employees by the end of 2018. The new media company launched about a year ago and was founded by Politico co-founder Jim VandeHei, former Politico Chief Revenue Officer Roy Schwartz and former Politico reporter Mike Allen. The Journal reports that Axios now has over 200,000 subscribers between all of its 11 newsletters and boasts an average open rate of 52 percent.
PogoTec
- Another Virginia startup has filed for a Reg A+ IPO. Roanoke, Va.-based PogoTec announced plans on Nov. 20 to raise between $10 million and $32 million. The wearable camera maker has yet to become profitable and its 2016 revenue was at a loss of $5 million. They plan to list on the Nasdaq as "POGO."
Framebridge
- Framebridge has a pretty top-notch new investor as of Nov. 20. The Washington, D.C.-based startup has received an undisclosed investment from interior design superstar Nate Berkus. Let's put his "coolness" in context: He's been on the Oprah Winfrey Show several times. The news follows the custom framing startup's July $16.7M Series B round from the founder of Crate & Barrel co-founder Gordon Segal and Rent the Runway's Beth Kaplan.
