HEARD AROUND VIRGINIA

2X, a Philadelphia-based business-to-business technology and services firm, announced in early June the acquisition of Manassas-based Knownwell, a startup providing AI customer retention and commercial intelligence. The transaction values the combined company at more than $400 million. As part of the transaction, David DeWolf, founder and CEO of Knownwell, has been named CEO of 2X. DeWolf has been on 2X’s board of directors since 2023. Knownwell’s technology analyzes conversations, emails and user activity that shape customer interactions. It announced in September that it had raised $4 million in seed capital. (Potomac Tech Wire)

McLean-based business advisory firm CrossCountry Consulting has acquired Arlington County’s Dupont Circle Solutions, a technology consulting firm focused on cloud-based customer relationship management tool Salesforce, according to a July 1 announcement. Founded in 2015, Dupont Circle Solutions has more than 60 employees. They will join 15 CrossCountry Consulting Salesforce employees, according to a company spokesperson. The combined Salesforce practice will be led by Ben and Erin Hatten, co-founders and managing partners of Dupont Circle Solutions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. CrossCountry Consulting plans to combine its expanded Salesforce capabilities with its advisory services and AI solutions to help clients move faster and operate more effectively. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Mechanicsville-based FYM Marketing has officially launched BoxRaise, its merchant-led fundraising platform that connects local businesses, nonprofits and schools through co-branded fundraising campaigns, according to an early June news release. The platform soft-launched in March.
Since launching with founding merchant partner PJ Cheese, a Papa Johns franchise operator, BoxRaise has signed 14 nonprofit and school partners and completed 10 campaigns. BoxRaise’s proprietary Gift Box delivers merchant-funded offers directly to donors’ Apple and Google Wallets, which it says creates a customer-acquisition channel for merchants while helping organizations raise funds with less time and effort. (News release)
Marlinspike Partners, an Arlington County venture capital firm backing defense tech startups, has closed a $127 million fund. The Marlinspike

Disruptive Technology Fund II came in well above the firm’s original aim of $70 million. The extra capital will let the firm cut larger checks to 20 to
24 companies over the next three years, according to Mislav Tolusic, Marlinspike’s managing partner and chief investment officer. The firm expects to take the lead investor role for more deals, in which it will cut checks between $7 million and $10 million. Marlinspike is looking to back companies developing technologies at the convergence of autonomy systems and manufacturing. (Washington Business Journal)

Trase, a McLean startup that developed agentic artificial intelligence technologies for high-stakes environments, announced in late June it’d raised a $107 million seed round. Chicago investment firm Arch Venture Partners led the round. Washington, D.C.-area entrepreneur Grant Verstandig’s McLean firm Red Cell Partners, which has incubated or backed 20 companies since 2020, also participated in the round. Verstandig co-founded Trase in 2024 and serves as its CEO. In a pilot with Duke University Health System’s Division of Cardiology, Trase’s tech sorted and routed the more than 5,000 faxes the clinic receives monthly. (Washington Business Journal)

Continuing a string of acquisitions, Woven Solutions, a Reston-based national security AI-enabled mission software company, announced in June that it will acquire Reston-based Insignis, a developer of cybersecurity software and engineering services. The acquisition is Woven’s fourth since a strategic investment from Falfurrias Management Partners in August 2025. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Insignis’ team has expertise across systems and network engineering and software development geared toward supporting mission- critical operations. Woven specializes in cloud-native software development, DevOps, cybersecurity and data solutions for national security customers. (Potomac Tech Wire; News release)