StartVirginia: HEARD AROUND VIRGINIA

Comcast said April 9 it is opening grant applications for a program benefiting small businesses across Greater Richmond. The global cable broadcasting company said the grant packages include business coaching, education sources, media schedules, creative production, technology makeovers and $5,000 in cash. Comcast’s RISE program is aimed at supporting the growth of small businesses while advancing diversity, equity and inclusion, and community investment objectives. Small businesses can apply for the grants throughout the month of May and a total of 100 grants for the Richmond area are planned to be announced in August. (Richmond Inno)

Lightshift Energy, an Arlington County startup that builds energy storage systems, has raised $100 million from a repeat investor to significantly expand its workforce and project pipelines over the next year. The Series B round brings Rossyln-based Lightshift’s total outside funding to $120 million. Founded in 2019 by Michael Herbert and Rory Jones, the company was previously called Delorean Power. The investment from two affiliates of Greenbacker Capital Management, a New York funder of renewable energy firms that gave the company $20 million in initial funding, has been split into two respective tranches. (DC Inno)

The Regional and Accelerator Mentoring Program (RAMP) has selected four teams for its spring cohort, the organization announced April 2. RAMP serves startups across the Roanoke and New River valleys. The cohort includes Roanoke-based Alice Innovations, a tech startup aiming to improve operating room service efficiency; Falls Church-based Bacchus Therapeutics, which makes a drug that targets specific cancer metabolic pathways; Roanoke-based Recens Respiratio, a health startup working to produce an autonomous nasal cannula system that will respond in real time to changes in patient oxygen demands; and Blacksburg-based Scanlily, which provides a QR code-based method for managing assets and equipment. During the 12-week cohort program, startups will receive $20,000 in nonequity funding, free office space and other perks. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

The Retail Alliance and Phoebus Partnership announced five small businesses in Hampton will receive $3,000 to $5,000 grants and expert consulting as part of a pilot program. The Retail Alliance is using a $100,000 Virginia Business District Resurgence grant from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development to help existing businesses in Phoebus. Eleven businesses applied, and judges selected five: Art Central Gallery, Happy Hempo, Palace Jewelers, SeeWhich Books and Sly Clyde Ciderworks. (Inside Business)

A veteran-led and -owned venture capital firm is relocating its corporate headquarters from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Tysons to be closer to the types of startups it targets for investments: national security contractors led by one or more veterans. Veteran Ventures Capital is set to take up office space in the Boro Tower on Broad Street, steps away from the Greensboro Metro station and Tysons Galleria. Derren Burrell, founder and managing partner of the firm, will return to the region after doing several tours during his 20-year career with the U.S. Air Force. He joins Josh Weed, a general partner of the firm already based in Northern Virginia. (DC Inno)

Rural Southwest and Southside Virginia are in line for a new six-figure grant for entrepreneurship, the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp. announced March 21. The innovation partnership, which held its board meeting at the New College Institute in Martinsville, gave word that it will commit $100,000. That’s the latest grant in a series that the partnership has awarded within the region over the past couple of years. (Cardinal News)