HEARD  AROUND  VIRGINIA

Fixify, an Arlington County-based AI-powered IT help desk solution provider founded in 2023, announced Oct. 23 that it has closed on a $25 million Series A funding round co-led by Costanoa Ventures, Decibel Partners and Paladin Capital Group with participation from Scale Venture Partners. The funds will be used to scale its workforce and accelerate product development. Fixify also announced that Mourad Yesayan, Managing Director at Paladin Capital Group, will be joining Fixify’s board to provide strategic counsel on AI and cybersecurity. (News release)

Richmond-based employee benefits startup Fringe has raised a little more than $6 million in new equity funding, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The com-pany recorded its first sale in the venture round on Sept. 9 and a total of nine investors participated, according to the filing. Led by CEO Jordan Peace, who co-founded it in 2018, Fringe has now raised a total of $27 million to date, according to Crunchbase, including a
$17 million funding round in 2022 led by Chicago’s Origin Ventures and Charlottesville’s Felton Group. (Richmond Inno)

Lingo, an Arlington edtech startup founded in 2020 by rocket scientist and astronaut Aisha Bowe, has raised $2.3 million in a seed round of funding, which included participation by D.C.-based 1863 Ventures. Pinnacle Private Ventures also participated in the round, which the company will use to expand its hands-on, project-based coding kits and curriculum for kids in fields such as artificial intelligence, space systems and environmental monitoring. Lingo’s programs are implemented by partners such as General Dynamics Information Technology, Siemens Healthineers, Leidos and Howard University. (Potomac Tech Wire)

Interos, an Arlington tech firm that helps companies monitor and respond to supply chain threats, has obtained $40 million in new funding to expand product capabilities following several executive leadership appointments. The growth capital investment from Blue Owl Capital, a New York alternative investment asset management firm, brings Interos’ total outside funding to about $175 million, according to Crunchbase. Other investors that have backed the tech unicorn previously include Menlo Park, California, venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, San Francisco venture capital firm NightDragon and New York investment firm Venrock. (DC Inno)

Qnovia, a Richmond startup focused on smoking cessation technology, has received investigational new drug clearance from the Food and Drug Administration for its nicotine inhaler product. The five-person company, led by CEO Brian Quigley, developed the RespiRx nicotine inhaler to get nicotine into patients’ systems quicker than established offerings like patches and lozenges. Last year, it received positive results in its first round of human trials. The new clearance gets the company into clinical trials in the U.S., and it’s preparing a phase 1 study in the months ahead. (Richmond Inno)

Ashburn-based RiPSIM Technologies, makers of a software platform for generating and delivering mobile network authentication credentials on demand, in late October announced raising $5 million in a seed funding round, led by cybersecurity-focused Ten Eleven Ventures. This investment will fuel the expansion of RiPSIM’s eSIM-as-a-Service management platform, a solution modernizing the eSIM generation and delivery process. Using RiPSIM’s platform, carriers and network operators gain custody and control over the entire credentialing process, so they can more securely authenticate subscribers to their networks on demand. (News release)