In covering the D.C. innovation economy comes the inevitable: funding news. Trust us, there’s a lot of it floating around the D.C. metro area. Here’s a roundup of all of the major funding news from the region in December:
Terbium Labs
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Baltimore-based Terbium Labs closed a $6 million round of funding led by Glasswing Ventures, according to a press release on Nov. 29 (after our November funding roundup was published). The latest funding brings Terbium’s total raised to $15 million. The dark web intelligence company plans to invest the new funds in geographical expansion, partnerships and product developments.
Gravy Analytics
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According to SEC filings in late November, Leesburg, Va.-based Gravy Analytics closed an additional $1.65 million round of funding. Gravy Analytics is a location-based tool designed to help companies track event attendees headed up by CEO Jeff White. Not much is known about the new funding round, but it comes after the company closed a $7.7 million round of funding in January 2017.
Rise of the Rest
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The New York Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin detailed a mindhive of American innovators and tech entrepreneurs who have come together to raise $150 million for a “Rise of the Rest” seed fund on Dec. 15. Investors include Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Alphabet’s Eric Schmidt, Starbucks’ Howard Schultz, and many more. With the new group of investors, Case and JD Vance, who both head the initiative, plan to also help startups in lesser known hubs make connections with industry giants.
Anzu Partners
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D.C. venture capital firm Anzu Partners raised a new fund, according to reports on Dec. 6. The new $128.4 million fund will be used to invest in manufacturing companies and other machinery-heavy industries. Originally, Anzu set out to only raise $100 million, but, because of high interest, they ended up surpassing that. Now, the plan is to invest in 18-25 companies.
Green Leaf Medical
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One Maryland marijuana startup brought in more funding the same week the state launched its medical marijuana marketplace. Gaithersburg, Md.-based Green Leaf Medical raised $1.9 million of an expected $3 million round, according to reports on Dec. 6. This is the company’s third funding round in less than a year, and they brought in $7.5 million in 2017 alone.
Yombu
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Washington, D.C. payments startup Yombu is raising a $800,000 round to help land new partnerships, according to reports on Dec. 8. Yombu, which lets customers pay for goods using their fingerprint, is aiming to land 130 new merchant partners across the Greater Washington area in 2018. This summer, they opened a seed round for $500,000 and ended up surpassing that and bringing in $600,000.
OneWeb
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It seems that SoftBank is upping its investment in Arlington, Va.-based OneWeb, according to reports on Dec. 11. SoftBank led a $1.2 billion funding round in the Internet satellite startup, which closed in December 2016. Now, SoftBank plans to add $500 million to that investment in the startup’s plan to bring faster internet connections worldwide through low-orbiting satellites. Other investors in OneWeb include Qualcomm, Airbus and Richard Branson.
FS Card
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Washington, D.C. credit card startup FS Card brought in an additional $10 million in funding, according to reports on Dec. 15. On top of its $30 million round earlier in 2017, the startup brought in some extra cash to work on its tech algorithm for approving applicants. This brings their total amount raised in 2017 to $40 million.
