STARTVIRGINIA: HEARD AROUND VIRGINIA

Afton Scientific, a manufacturer of sterile injectable pharmaceuticals, plans to invest over $200 million to expand its manufacturing facility in Albemarle County, creating more than 200 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Oct. 2. In January, Arlington Capital Partners, a private investment firm specializing in government regulated industries and closing gaps in sectors like health care, announced it had made a majority investment in Afton Scientific, which was founded in Charlottesville in 1991. At its facility at Avon Court, Afton Scientific offers a range of services including sterile manufacturing, packaging and labeling, analytical and micro lab and pharmaceutical support services. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

AgroSpheres, a Charlottesville biotech developing targeted, nontoxic crop-protection products, has closed a $37 million Series B round. The funding was led by Swiss VC firm Zebra Impact Ventures and included participation from St. Louis-based Lewis and Clark AgriFood; Rye, New York’s Ospraie Ag Science Ventures; Philadelphia’s FMC Ventures; as well as Bidra Ventures and Cavallo Ventures, both of San Francisco. Founded in 2016, AgroSpheres plans to use the new funding to support product development, invest in biomanufacturing facilities and expand into new markets. The company’s key product is its AgriCell platform, which utilizes encapsulated biomolecules as an alternative to pesticides. (Richmond Inno)

Herndon-based geospatial intelligence company BlackSky Technology received total gross proceeds of approximately $46 million from the Sept. 26 closing of its previously announced underwritten public offering of 10 million shares of its Class A common stock at $4 per share. In addition, on Sept. 27, the underwriters fully exercised their option to purchase an additional 1.5 million shares of common stock. Oppenheimer & Co. and Lake Street Capital Markets acted as joint book-running managers for the offering. Founded in 2014, BlackSky provides real-time high-frequency imagery, analytics, and high-frequency monitoring from its low Earth orbit satellite constellation. (News release)

Dandelion Energy has raised $40 million in fresh funding for the national rollout of its geothermal systems that heat and cool single-family homes and multifamily housing. The new funding brings Dandelion’s total outside investment to more than $130 million since its founding by President Kathy Hannun in 2017. It also comes following the relocation of Dandelion’s headquarters from Mount Kisco, New York, to Arlington County in September. Google Ventures, the venture capital investment arm of Alphabet Inc., led the Series C round. (DC Inno)

Optimum Technologies is preparing to double its workforce to about 100 people over the next two years as it expands into more space near its Sterling headquarters to keep up with demand. The satellite maker and space flight hardware design and analysis provider signed a 10-year lease to take on 5,300 square feet in the building next to its 5,700-square-foot satellite manufacturing site on Carpenter Drive, both of which are owned by Potomac Development Group. Founded in 2015, Optimum has seen strong demand for its satellites from the Space Development Agency, which is launching more low Earth orbit satellite networks to strengthen U.S. space-based warfare capabilities. (DC Inno)

Plenty Unlimited, which started as a student project at the University of Wyoming a decade ago, held a grand opening Sept. 24 for the world’s first indoor vertical berry farm in Chesterfield County. The California-based company selected Chesterfield for its first East Coast facility and massive-scale berry farm in 2022, investing $300 million in the Meadowville Technology Park space. The farm will grow around 4 million pounds of Driscoll’s strawberries a year in a roughly 40,000-square-foot space, all on 30-foot-tall towers. The berry farm should bring around 60 jobs to Chesterfield initially, and ultimately more than 300. (Axios Richmond)