HEARD AROUND VIRGINIA November 2023

Richmond-based Absurd Snacks is now selling its products in 14 Whole Foods Market stores throughout Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia, as well as via Amazon.com. Co-founders Grace Mittl and Eli Bank, who serve as CEO and chief operating officer respectively, began fostering a relationship with Whole Foods in 2021 while taking an entrepreneurial pilot course at the University of Richmond, out of which Absurd Snacks was born. The company produces sweet and savory allergen-free trail mixes. (Richmond Inno; VirginiaBusiness.com)

Blue Heron Capital, a Richmond growth equity firm focused on health care and enterprise technology, exited its investment in Starc Systems after the company was purchased by Oak Brook, Illinois-based private equity firm North Branch Capital. Terms of the sale were not disclosed. Brunswick, Maine’s Starc Systems manufactures reusable temporary containment walls to protect occupied areas from disruption during renovations. Blue Heron led a $3.5 million Series A investment in the company in 2017. Blue Heron has several active investments in Virginia companies, including Richmond autism telehealth startup AnswersNow, McLean health care staffing startup ShiftMed and McLean identity tech startup Verato. (Richmond Inno)

Ballston-based cybersecurity company Fend has a new piece of technology to protect large systems and small devices alike from offenses launched by alleged thieves, cybercriminals and nation state actors. The company in August received a patent for a microchip that allows Fend to protect a wider variety of goods. Any manufacturer can embed the chip into small-scale products such as medical devices and delivery drones to keep them secure. Like its first product — a “data diode” that looks like an internet modem — the new chip dictates how devices talk to the internet, such that hackers cannot find a way to wrest control. Fend is in the midst of fundraising, with the goal of expansion. (ARL Now)

Arlington startup Predict Health has raised $4 million in seed funding to improve the Medicare open enrollment experience using artificial intelligence. founded Predict Health in 2019, inspired by his father Sailesh’s less-than-pleasant experience signing up for a Medicare insurer. First Trust Capital Partners, a Wheaton, Illinois-based venture capital firm, led the round that closed on Sept 8. Predict Health is applying retail tools and data to help insurers understand the buying and exiting behaviors of Medicare and Medicaid recipients. With that data, health plans can create tailor-made programs to keep their customers. Predict Health has 17 employees. It plans to use the $4 million to accelerate product development and grow the team by 50%. (DC Inno)

Richmond’s Startup Virginia, a nonprofit high-growth business incubator and hub, received the Gold Award for Entrepreneurship for populations between 200,000 and 500,000 people from the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) during the organization’s annual conference in Texas in September. Virginia Beach’s The Hive business resource center took a bronze award in the category, and Activation Capital, the brand name of the Virginia Biotechnology Research Partnership Authority — which promotes the growth of life sciences and advanced technology in the Richmond region — won a gold award for innovation programs and initiatives. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

PEOPLE

Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp. President and CEO Robert “Bob” Stolle left his role in September after 13 years with the not-for-profit state corporation and its predecessor. Stolle became CEO of VIPC’s predecessor, the Center for Innovative Technology, in 2020. Before that, he was the economic development organization’s senior vice president for operations. Joseph Benevento, Virginia’s deputy secretary of commerce and trade, became VIPC’s interim CEO in September. A not-for-profit corporation created in 1985, VIPC provides strategic commercialization and funding support to Virginia-based tech startups. (VirginiaBusiness.com)