StartVirginia: Heard Around Virginia August 2024

Blacksburg is moving forward with the renovation of a former dry-cleaning business into a retail business incubator. Slated to open by the end of 2025, the Blacksburg Retail Incubator is planned at 414 N. Main St., a 5,000-square-foot building owned by the town. After the building has been improved, Downtown Blacksburg Inc. will locate there and operate an incubator to house entrepreneurs seeking to create or expand a business providing products to the community. Officials hope to attract merchants that serve a new or underserved market. There will be room for events and receptions as well. (The Roanoke Times)

Arlington County’s CareJourney, a health care data and analytics company co-founded in 2014 by former U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, has been acquired by Arcadia, a Boston health care data platform, according to a June 27 announcement. A spokesperson for Arcadia declined to provide financial terms of the deal. The merged company will have 400 employees. CareJourney derives analytics from Medicare, Medicaid, Medicare Advantage and commercial claims data across more than 300 million beneficiaries and over 2 million providers nationwide. Its clients include payers, providers and employers. Chopra, who served as the nation’s first chief technology officer under President Barack Obama, is now Arcadia’s chief strategy officer. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

CAV Angels, an investment syndicate composed of University of Virginia alumni, students and friends, recently closed three funding deals to push its lifetime investments close to $26 million. The recent investments include MITO Material Solutions, an Indianapolis company that makes resin additives for manufacturing, New York City’s Ask Alex, which offers AI-powered data and marketing software that automates workflows for brick-and-mortar operators; and Richmond augmented reality company ARtGlass. Exact terms of the funding deals were not disclosed. All were group deals. (Richmond Inno)

Shenandoah Community Capital Fund is hosting its third annual Shenandoah Valley Entrepreneurship Summit Sept. 9-10 at James Madison University in Harrisonburg. With the theme “Learning by Doing,” the summit will offer several hands-on workshops as well as networking and relationship-building opportunities. Session topics will be led by expert entrepreneurs and business owners and will center around subjects such as marketing, finance, technology and business management. Tickets are $155 (or $80 for students) and include meals and admission to SCCF’s first Demo Day on night one. More information can be found at sccfva.org. (News release)

Torev Motors, a Crystal City startup vying to improve the motors that power electric vehicles, crossed the $1 million funding threshold in June. The 2-year-old company recently closed a $650,000 pre-seed funding round led by BetterWay Ventures, a Charleston, South Carolina-based venture capital firm that funds green tech startups. Houston investment firm EcoSphere Ventures, Los Angeles-based Climate Avengers and Alexandria investment firm Intbox Ventures also participated. Torev is in talks with several automakers about establishing pilot programs that its founders hope will lead to its hardware being tested out in passenger cars and, eventually, construction and military equipment. (DC Inno)

McLean fintech Verituity has raised $18.8 million to expand the customer base for its software, which helps verify financial transactions such as refunds and insurance claims. Sandbox Industries of Chicago and San Mateo, California-based Forgepoint Capital led the round. Washington, D.C.’s Ardent Venture Partners and Santa Monica’s MTech Capital also took part. Forgepoint and Ardent led Verituity’s $10 million Series A round in 2021. Started in 2020, Verituity’s business has skyrocketed from processing roughly $13 million in payouts in 2022 to over $2.6 billion in the past year, according to investor Forgepoint. Customers include financial giants such as BNY Mellon, Citizens Bank and Assurant. MasterCard inked a partnership with Verituity earlier this year. (DC Inno)