StartVirginia: August 2023 Heard Around Virginia

Two Virginia business owners were among 20 women entrepreneurs chosen in June out of 6,500 applicants to participate in a 10-week accelerator sponsored by Allergan Aesthetics, the maker of Botox. Monika Jefferson, CEO and founder of the Hampton Roads-based Association of Military Spouse Entrepreneurs, which provides networking and resources to military spouse business owners, and Erica Cole, CEO and founder of Richmond-based adaptive clothing brand No Limbits, will each receive a $25,000 grant. The accelerator focuses on networking, social media, marketing crowdfunding and business strategies. (News release)

Alexandria-based Scout Space, a startup developing technologies for space situational awareness, closed a seed fund led by venture capital firm Decisive Point, the company announced June 21. Reston-based Noblis Inc. was the majority investor and the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp. also invested. Scout Space said it could not disclose the value of the round. The company developed a sensing payload that helps spacecraft in orbit see and understand surrounding environments and has won small business innovation research contracts from the Air Force and Space Force. Since its founding in 2019, Scout Space has raised about $5.5 million in venture funding. (SpaceNews)

Reston-based Silent Push Inc. launched out of stealth mode in June with a $10 million seed round to bring its cybersecurity software to a wider market by ramping up sales and marketing hiring. The company was founded three years ago by CEO Ken Bagnall and Chief Technology Officer John Jensen to research a way to detect cyberattackers building malicious infrastructure, such as false domains or automated IP address rotation systems, and stop breaches before they happen. Boston-based Ten Eleven Ventures led the round. Silent Push has 30 employees and is fully remote. (DC Inno)

Startup Virginia received a $100,000 grant from the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp. in late June. The Richmond-based nonprofit, which offers founders and startups mentorship and office space, will use the grant to help its overall operations. Startup Virginia has a $950,000 annual budget and 80 members, six of which closed a Series A funding round in 2022. The organization operates the Michael Wassmer Innovation Center, also called the 1717 building, in Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom. It houses coworking space and offers programs for the entrepreneurial community. Startup Virginia also runs the Idea Factory, which helps aspiring entrepreneurs iterate and validate their ideas. (Richmond Inno)

Reston-based TruWeather Solutions raised $5.3 million, a big chunk of its $7 million Series A funding goal, by late June. TruWeather Solutions provides weather predictions and logistics data on wind speeds, temperatures and moisture data 5,000 feet above ground level, aiding companies in decisions on whether to schedule flights or drone deliveries. The round was led by Supernal, a U.S. tech innovation arm of Hyundai Motor Group that’s developing an electric takeoff and landing vehicle. Supernal invested $3.5 million and plans to pilot the weather sensor tech in its own vehicles, which it hopes to release in 2028. TruWeather plans to invest in product development and sales and increase its 30-person workforce to 35. Its customers include Walmart’s drone delivery network, run by Virginia Beach-based DroneUp LLC. (DC Inno)

Verge, a nonprofit catalyst for technology and biotech innovation in the New River Valley, Roanoke and Lynchburg regions, received a $200,000 grant from the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp. in late June. The grant will be used to support Verge’s Regional Accelerator and Mentoring Program (RAMP), which supports early-stage education and training for entrepreneurs before and after participating in the RAMP accelerator bootcamp. (News release)