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entrepreneurism

Mar 31, 2025

Virginia 500 spotlight : JOE BENEVENTO

WHAT I WAS LIKE IN HIGH SCHOOL: I was fairly social and outgoing, but I also captained the chess team and competed in the state championship. HOW I BALANCE MY WORK AND PERSONAL LIVES: Since starting out in my career 20 years ago at Goldman Sachs, work has never really been a [9 to 5] job […]

Aug 29, 2024

StartVirginia: Heard Around Virginia September 2024

Blue Delta Capital Partners, a Tysons-based venture capital firm, is preparing to make more equity investments in regional growth-stage tech firms serving the federal government following the close of a $250 million fund. The firm plans to offer noncontrolling ownership investments of between $15 million and $50 million from its Blue Delta Capital Fund IV. […]

Chandra Briggman
Jul 8, 2024

Briggman leaving post as CEO of Activation Capital

Chandra Briggman is leaving her position as president and CEO of Activation Capital, the Richmond tech incubator announced Monday. Her last day is Friday. Briggman joined Activation Capital, an accelerator arm of the Virginia Biotechnology Research Partnership Authority, in May 2020; the organization includes a biotech park, startup development and cluster accelerator for pharmaceutical research [[...]

May 30, 2024

From salutes to startups

When Navy veteran Leland Remias was preparing to launch his Newport News real estate startup, VroomBrick, he looked for every resource possible to help him learn about business and scaling up. First, he completed an MBA from William & Mary in May. And in 2022, he participated in the Veteran Startup Challenge, a five-week intensive […]

Apr 29, 2024

Lighthouse Labs leader has ‘deep heart for entrepreneurship’

Explaining how she became involved in supporting entrepreneurism, the new managing director of Richmond-based accelerator Lighthouse Labs jokes that “it was all accidental.” As a James Madison University senior putting herself through school, Debbie Irwin couldn’t find a class that lined up with her work schedule, so her dean suggested writing a senior thesis instead. […]

Mar 28, 2024

Israeli defense giant launches Herndon aerospace accelerator

Herndon will soon have something in common with Tel Aviv — an aerospace accelerator and innovation center run by Israeli state-owned aerospace and defense company Israel Aerospace Industries, which helped design Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system. IAI and IAI North America, its Herndon-based U.S. government contracting subsidiary, in cooperation with California- and Washington, D.C.[...]

Jan 17, 2024

RAMP hires new executive director

The new executive director of RAMP, the Roanoke-based Regional Accelerator and Mentoring Program, once worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. Now he’ll help startups get off the ground in Roanoke, after doing work in the startup ecosystem in North Carolina. John Hagy started as executive director of RAMP on Jan. 8. He takes the place […]

Oct 30, 2023

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 […]

May 30, 2023

The stuff of dreams

Whether it’s aiming to solve a problem, build a better mousetrap or simply make a better life for themselves and their families, entrepreneurs start their businesses with a dream. And it’s in recognition of these visionary innovators that Virginia Business is pleased to debut StartVirginia, a new annual publication devoted to startups and the entrepreneurial […]

Mar 30, 2023

StartVirginia: April 2023 Heard around Virginia

Richmond-based Absurd Snacks is ready to enter major retailers after a reformulation and taking on some new packaging. Founders  Grace Mittl and Eli Bank worked with a New York agency and redesigned the packaging. Absurd Snacks has been available at independent grocery stores, but Mittl and Bank are eyeing larger retailers and wanted to make […]

Julien Reininger launched his vegan jerky business, Jacked! Jackfruit Jerky, as a college student with the help of Virginia Commonwealth University’s da Vinci Center for Innovation and its pre-accelerator program. Photo by Matthew R.O. Brown
Dec 29, 2022

On your mark

When Virginia Commonwealth University closed its buildings in spring 2020, then-student Julien Reininger wasn’t deterred from his entrepreneurial pursuits. In the kitchen of his parents’ Springfield home, Reininger ran a dehydrator for eight hours at a time, creating vegan jerky from canned jackfruit and developing different marinades. “I’m sure when I started doing it, they [&[...]

Dec 6, 2022

Va. receives $230M for startup, venture capital funding

Virginia has been approved for as much as $230.4 million in federal funds to accelerate startups, the U.S. Department of Treasury announced Tuesday. The money comes from the Treasury’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). Virginia will operate five programs, including two loan participation, one loan guarantee and two equity/venture capital programs. Loan programs include [&hellip[...]

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