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Defense tech startups close major funding rounds
Venture capital firms are betting big on two Northern Virginia-based defense contracting startups that are promising high-tech solutions to military challenges. In August, McLean-based Defcon AI announced it had raised $44 million in seed funding led by San Francisco investment firm Bessemer Venture Partners. The same month, Parry Labs in Alexandria raised $80 million in […]
As data centers grow, Amazon and Dominion explore small nuclear reactors
With power consumption by data centers and AI projected to more than quadruple in Virginia in the next 15 years, Amazon.com and Dominion Energy Virginia have entered into an agreement to explore potential development of small modular nuclear reactors at North Anna Power Plant in Louisa County, the two companies announced at an event Wednesday […]
A smart defense
In late 2020, the Air Force made headlines when it announced that an artificial intelligence co-pilot, named ARTUµ, helped command and control a U.S. military spy plane for the first time in history. If the name, pronounced R-2, sounds familiar, it is. Think R2-D2, or “Artoo,” Luke Skywalker’s lovable droid and X-Wing copilot from the […]
CGI Federal to acquire Vienna government contractor
CGI Federal, the U.S. arm of Montreal-based IT and professional services consultancy CGI, announced this week it plans to acquire Aeyon, a Vienna-based federal IT consulting firm. The purchase, for which terms were not disclosed, is expected to close by the end of September. With 725 employees, Aeyon has been owned by Enlightenment Capital, a […]
Leidos names first chief AI officer
Leidos has named Ron Keesing its first chief AI officer, the Reston Fortune 500 contractor announced Tuesday. Keesing, who joined Leidos in 2004, has more than two decades of experience in artificial intelligence, machine learning and advanced analytics. His roles have included serving as founding director of the Leidos AI Accelerator and as senior vice […]
Commentary: Va. ecosystem supports growth
It has been almost four years since I began leading economic development and innovation efforts at George Mason University, and what a whirlwind! This is an exciting time to be in Virginia, and getting to do this job every day feels like winning the lottery. It all started with the Amazon.com HQ2 win in 2018, […]
From seed to success
On an early morning in summer 2021, a small group of engineers and drone operators gathered at Lake Elsinore in California to see if their machines would fly as designed. With newly incorporated sensor technology, it was the first time the founders of Leesburg-based Flying Ship Co. attempted to fly one of their autonomous vehicles […]
McLean AI health care startup raises $111 million
A McLean-based health care tech startup wants to provide more targeted medical treatments for people with cancer, heart disease and other common diseases. Zephyr AI, founded in 2020, is a precision medicine company on a mission to democratize personalized medicine and is doing it by developing artificial intelligence-powered algorithms that can glean insights from health […]
Breaking the rules
For lawyers, time has always been money, which has made the billable hour standard practice for the profession since the 1960s. But with the rise of artificial intelligence, which already can cut the time required to complete rote tasks from days or hours down to seconds, a once-inconceivable event just might come to pass — […]
Google investing $1B in Va. data center campuses
Google is investing $1 billion in expanding its Virginia data center campuses this year and is launching a $75 million Google.org AI Opportunity Fund, one of Google’s top executives and Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Friday at Google’s Reston office. “Today is a great day. We’ve got a $1 billion investment in the commonwealth that we’re […]
McLean AI health care startup raises $111M in Series A funding
McLean-based Zephyr AI has raised $111 million in a Series A funding round, the health care technology startup announced March 13. The round included participation from about 30 investors, including Revolution Growth, Eli Lilly & Co., Jeff Skoll, and Epiq Capital Group, according to a news release and a Securities and Exchange Commission filing from […]
Charlottesville’s Astraea acquired by Fla. satellite company
Astraea, a Charlottesville-based geospatial analytics firm, has been acquired by Nuview, a Florida-based company developing a satellite imaging constellation, the companies announced Tuesday. Financial terms of the deal were not available. Founded as a for-profit benefit corporation in 2016, Astraea applies data science and artificial intelligence to analyze imaging and sensor data gathered from E[...]
