New Arlington hub to boost defense, energy startups

A new defense and energy innovation center is taking shape in Northern Virginia, looking to capitalize on the boom in those industries as the region also sets its sights on becoming a hub for those sectors.

Virtus Innovation Center is expected to offer space for more than 30 startups focused on national security and energy resilience.

Construction of the space, which could eventually incorporate more than 40,000 square feet in a complex of office towers located at 2011, 2121 and 2131 Crystal Drive in Arlington County‘s National Landing development, could begin later this year, says Evan Regan-Levine, chief strategy officer for Bethesda, Maryland-based real estate developer JBG Smith, a partner in Virtus and the primary developer for Amazon.com’s HQ2 East Coast headquarters.

Other partners include San Francisco-based venture capital fund Energy Innovation Capital (EIC), Amazon Web Services, Virginia Tech and A&MPLIFY, the digital and AI consulting arm of New York-based professional services firm Alvarez and Marsal.

Virtus plans to operate as an incubator and accelerator, providing startups with access to meeting, laboratory and development spaces as well as a sensitive compartmented information facility, or SCIF, for secure meetings with national security clients. They’ll also get support from partners, including connections to federal government customers, the proximity to which was a driver in locating in Northern Virginia.

In addition to the Pentagon, four of the world’s five largest defense and aerospace contractors call the region home, and Virginia Tech and George Mason University have recently opened innovation hubs to pump out a tech talent pipeline.

“There’s so much expertise and talent there,” says Andrew Lackner, a managing director with EIC. “But there’s no open innovation center. There’s not a lot of venture capital and startup activity. Therein lies the opportunity for what we’re trying to put together there for the Virtus Innovation Center.”

For now, Virtus, a nonprofit run by a board of directors, is operating in temporary space at 2131 Crystal Drive. EIC has made more than 175 investments in tech and energy companies and has a portfolio of 30 companies.

Regan-Levine says Virtus’ location is proof the region is transforming into a tech powerhouse: “It’s a venture capital fund putting their hand up saying, ‘Hey, we want to invest in the kinds of companies who are doing this work. And the best place possible to do it is this place.’”