StartVirginia: May 2023 Heard around Virginia

Richmond-based Babylon Micro-Farms Inc. raised $8 million in a series A funding round led by VentureSouth, the company announced April 4. The money will help expand go-to-market efforts and grow the company’s client base in the U.S. and beyond. Founded in 2017, Babylon enables businesses and communities to grow produce, and its software remotely manages the network of vertical farming systems. Its Galleri Micro-Farm is used in more than 150 locations within health care, education and corporate dining settings. Its clients include a cruise line, Dutch furniture retailer Ikea and Philadelphia-based food services company Aramark. (News release)

COgro Labs at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center in Blacksburg is now open. The addition of 2,900 square feet of shared and flexible lab space at 2200 Kraft Drive in Blacksburg was announced in 2021 and is designed to help early to mid-stage companies and researchers work on projects that include anything from drones or battery testing to medical technologies. The space includes lab benches and equipment and is expected to generate 125 jobs with an average salary of $80,000 per year over five years. The lab’s opening was supported by a nearly $600,000 Growth and Opportunity for Virginia (GO Virginia) grant made in 2021. (News release)

Rosslyn-based Shift5 Inc., whose software protects transportation and military systems from cyberattacks, has partnered with JetBlue Airways Corp. to develop systems for commercial airlines. As part of the agreement, JetBlue’s venture capital arm, JetBlue Technology Ventures, has invested in Shift5 in a funding round led by New York-based Insight Partners and participation from Arlington-based Boeing Co.’s venture capital arm. The size of JetBlue’s investment was not disclosed. The company has already raised more than $71 million to hire employees and double its office space. The company said its technology can help airlines decrease the complexity of compliance while improving fleet reliability. (Washington Business Journal)

Herndon-based cybersecurity startup Strivacity Inc. raised $20 million to push forward research and bolster its sales, marketing and engineering teams, and plans to grow the 42-person company to 70 in the next year. San Francisco’s SignalFire led the Series A2 round, joined by Ten Eleven Ventures, a Boston venture firm that focuses on cybersecurity. The round’s other investors include Kevin Mandia, CEO of Reston cybersecurity company Mandiant, now an arm of Google. Strivacity, founded in 2019, is cloud-hosted and helps clients manage and verify customer identity and access. In 2021, the company raised $9.3 million in Series A financing, bringing its total funding to date to $31.3 million. (D.C. Inno)

TwinTail Brews’ energy drink, Superberry Power Tea, is now available in stores around Richmond. Launched through the yearlong Bench Top Innovations class at the University of Richmond, the drink is sugar-free and has caffeine and L-theanine, an amino acid that balances the effects of caffeine to take away some jitters associated with energy drinks. The drink is manufactured in Virginia Beach and available at Ellwood Thompson’s and other retailers around Richmond. (Richmond Inno)

PEOPLE

Paul Nolde, executive managing director of Lighthouse Labs in Richmond, will be the new managing director of Norfolk-based 757 Angels and 757 Collab, the organization announced April 7. He replaces Monique Adams, who will leave the organizations this summer. Nolde has been at Lighthouse Labs since April 2022 and starts his new role May 30. On April 17, Art Espey replaced Nolde as head of Lighthouse Labs. A serial entrepreneur, Espey recently rejoined Lighthouse Labs’ board of directors, for which he served as vice chair from 2015 to 2018. (VirginiaBusiness.com)