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STARTVIRGINIA: HEARD AROUND VIRGINIA December 2023
A consortium of Hampton Roads startup business programs, 757 ScaleUp Alliance, received a $1.2 million federal grant to promote job growth in emerging industries. The U.S. Department of Commerce awarded the grant as part of $53 million in funding through its Build to Scale program, which aims to provide financial resources to entrepreneurs and startups. […]
Pulaski startup aims to turn pollutants into profit
Where some people see pollutants, Steve Critchfield sees the potential for profit and to improve the environment. As founder and president of Pulaski-based MOVA Technologies, Critchfield developed and patented a filter about the size of a refrigerator that captures selected air pollutants and breaks them into byproducts that can be sold and reused. It’s based […]
Scout Space founder has out-of-this-world goals
Eric Ingram wanted two things as a kid: blue hair and to travel to space. As CEO of Alexandria-based aerospace startup Scout Space, Ingram found the freedom to establish his now-trademark electric-blue hair. And it might provide the boost to reach that other goal. Ingram co-founded Scout Space in 2019 while he was furloughed from […]
HEARD AROUND VIRGINIA November 2023
Richmond-based Absurd Snacks is now selling its products in 14 Whole Foods Market stores throughout Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia, as well as via Amazon.com. Co-founders Grace Mittl and Eli Bank, who serve as CEO and chief operating officer respectively, began fostering a relationship with Whole Foods in 2021 while taking an entrepreneurial pilot course at the University […]
StartVirginia: October 2023 Heard Around Virginia
Aravenda, a Fairfax e-commerce software company targeting consignment shops and resellers, landed a spot in the latest women founders cohort of the Google for Startups Accelerator. Aravenda’s software helps consignment and resale shops track inventory and manage payouts to people who sell there. Customers can use the software to build websites and manage inventory across […]
Innovation center could be boost for life sciences
Kipton Currier envisions Virginia joining other mid-Atlantic states to form a super region for the life sciences industry. Before that happens, the state must secure some key ingredients missing from the ecosystem, namely sufficient lab space for biotech startups. Activation Capital, the brand name of the Virginia Biotechnology Research Partnership Authority — which promotes the […]
StartVirginia: September 2023 Heard Around Virginia
McLean-based Affect Therapeutics, a substance addiction therapy startup, raised $16 million in a Series A funding round to expand its operations and further develop its mobile app. The company delivers therapy and treatments for specific substance use disorders through its app. The company plans to use much of the money it raised to expand into […]
VIPC leader to step down
Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp. President and CEO Robert “Bob” Stolle will step down from his role in September after 13 years with the not-for-profit state corporation and its predecessor. Stolle became CEO of VIPC’s predecessor, the Center for Innovative Technology, in 2020. Before that, he was the economic development organization’s senior vice president for operations. [&[...]
Gathering power
While working on a cellular tower a few years back, Kyle Mullins got what he describes as the “call of a lifetime” — an invitation to work on the first two pilot wind turbines for Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. A Navy veteran who received a telecommunications technical certification from Texas A&M University, […]
Son’s cancer fight inspires startup
The sight of Neal Piper’s then-3-year-old son, Noah, stuck on the couch all day, tethered to an IV pole with a feeding tube after the boy’s cancer diagnosis in 2019 put his father on a new mission. Piper, who had 15 years of experience in commercializing health care products, including 10 years in sales, marketing […]
StartVirginia: August 2023 Heard Around Virginia
Two Virginia business owners were among 20 women entrepreneurs chosen in June out of 6,500 applicants to participate in a 10-week accelerator sponsored by Allergan Aesthetics, the maker of Botox. Monika Jefferson, CEO and founder of the Hampton Roads-based Association of Military Spouse Entrepreneurs, which provides networking and resources to military spouse business owners, and […]
U.Va. biolab seeks to catalyze region’s growth
Thomas Barker says his seed-stage startup wants to find “modern, modular, functional lab space” to allow the company he co-founded, Vasarya Therapeutics, to be “very efficient and optimal on our research enterprise.” But good lab space is hard to come by in Charlottesville, and what exists is spread around, “so you don’t necessarily get the […]
