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StartVirginia: Heard Around Virginia
Bricklayer AI announced a pre-seed investment of $2.5 million to advance product development of its autonomous AI security analyst solution on May 2. The pre-seed round had participation from Sovereign’s Capital; Dreamit Ventures; Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp.’s Virginia Venture Partners fund; BlueWing Ventures; and Blu Ventures, as well as cybersecurity industry leaders. Bricklayer AI has built an autonomous security[...]
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 int[...]
EY taps 14 Virginians as Mid-Atlantic Entrepreneur of the Year finalists
Fourteen Virginia business leaders are among the 30 finalists for Ernst & Young’s 2024 Mid-Atlantic Entrepreneur of the Year award. EY announced the finalists, selected by a panel of independent judges, on April 22. The Big Four professional services company will name the regional awards winners on June 15. The Virginia fi[...]
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 d[...]
StartVirginia: HEARD AROUND VIRGINIA
Arlington County awarded a total of $225,000 in grants to five local startups that are the first to receive grants — of $25,000 to $50,000 apiece — from the county’s Arlington Innovation Fund. The fund supports early-stage tech companies, particularly those owned by women, veterans and minorities, while pushing down office vacancy rates. The five companies are: Dispatchr Technologies, which develops […][...]
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 contractin[...]
Getting off the ground
When Sid Pailla applied to join Richmond-based accelerator Lighthouse Labs in 2020, he had an idea, a product and early customers but, he acknowledges, “at the end of the day, we didn’t exactly have a business.” Sunny Day Fund, Pailla’s Falls Church startup, offers an emergency savings platform to which employers contrib[...]
CAV Angels hits $20 million+ milestone
When Greg and Marion Werkheiser connected with CAV Angels during their search for seed investors for their augmented reality software startup in 2018, the couple reaped benefits beyond an initial $300,000 infusion. “The investment itself gave us credibility to other investors,” says ARtGlass CEO Greg Werkheiser, a 2000 gradu[...]
George Mason incubator helps immigrant entrepreneurs rise
George Mason University’s vision for creating an entrepreneurship program for immigrants and refugees “connected the dots” of Sumeet Shrivastava’s history, beginning with his family’s emigration from Bihar, India, in the 1970s so his father, Satyendra Shrivastava, could earn a master’s degree. Mentors guided his fath[...]
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. […]
