Ryan: LivingSocial was once a giant. For years, the deals startup was a pillar of the D.C. tech scene, attracting young workers from across the country and fostering a network of other local startups from LivingSocial alumni who went on to become founders. 

The slow decline, the layoffs and the fall from grace was capped off by the recent sale to Groupon, which reports later showed was for no cash at all. Now, along with the news that part of the old offices will become a steakhouse, we might be seeing the final death throes of the once-mighty company.

WBJ reports that Groupon will layoff 95 employees in Washington, D.C. While the notice does not explicitly say who the employees are, it’s almost certain that this is the remaining LivingSocial team, who will be laid off en masse on April 24. 

Sam: As Andy notes in the story, LivingSocial’s numbers have been dwindling (which, ya know, makes sense). In August, the company reported that it had 135 employees in the D.C. area and 190 total. At its height, it easily had 5,000 employees. 

Honestly, the news just reminds me of those weird scorned lover tropes: The bitter ex & rival promises to help, promises they’ll be there for you and support you this time. But then instead, they buy you for nothing and lay off the rest of your employees without even a comment. Sure, it’s sad personified, but welcome to business & capitalism!!

Ryan: Pour one out at your happy hour. 

Sam: Upside Travel isn’t super well-known right now, but it has the pedigree to be v, v, soon. Founded by Priceline.com founder Jay Walker, the startup closed a $50M round in January, which brought it to a $200M valuation. But what’s behind that massive growth? Its tech team. 

I talked with SVP of Engineering Emily Dresner about what her team is doing to outsmart the competition. Check out the badass work from a pretty notable women in tech on this International Women’s Day.

Ryan: MadeinDC, WestElm and UnionMarket are partnering to create new opportunities and resources for the DC maker business community. “This partnership will include the creation of capacity-building workshops, pop-up shops and cross-promotion of programs and resources – a continuation of similar creative programming at Union Market’s Lab 1270,” according to a release.

Sam: The Ballston Business Improvement District (BID) has launched BLinked, the region’s first free, seamless, gigabyte-capable Wi-Fi network. “As leading cities around the world look to new technologies for a competitive advantage, Ballston emerges as our area’s first to embrace the connected city movement,” the Ballston BID said. 

Ryan: Ballston so hard.

Sam: Breaking news! (Yes, in this very newsletter!) Tomorrow, the Vinetta Project will announce the following names as the semifinalists competing in their Vinetta $20K Venture Challenge: 

—Yulia Yaani of Real Atom, a commercial real estate debt platform

—Meghan Buck of VEDA Data Solutions, a company aimed at personalizing data to help people find their next donor, supporter or customer.

—Georgia Weidman of Shevirah, a provider of risk management tools for enterprise mobile devices.

—Shizu Okusa of JRINK, a cold-pressed juice provider in the D.C. area founded by two former Wall Streeters.

Yayayay, International Women’s Day! The four semifinalists will pitch at Vinetta’s first showcase on Wednesday, March 22 at Social Tables.

Sam: McLean, Va.-based startup ID.me has closed a $19M Series B round led by FTV Capital. With the new funds, the startup plans to focus on growing its sales, marketing and product development teams. You know, the usual. Simply put ID.me works to fix the age old security login issue, but instead of suggesting users create multiple passwords for all of their online identities (Raise your hand if you just rotate between a set of 2-3 for everything, people!) and take control of their own security, ID.me works to make it so that users can safely have one password for all accounts. JUST ONE !!!

Ryan: I already do that. “Password123” is very easy to remember.

Sam: I got a few insights from Liron Gitig, a partner at FTV Capital, into why they decided to invest in the company. For starters, Gitig said they look for a strong leader and team before making any sort of investment, and they were impressed by the work of ID.me CEO Blake Hall: “He really built a strong team and quickly took a leadership position in this market,” Gitig said. 

But beyond that, Gitig said security has been a space that FTV has always been active in, and they had success with an exit from another identity company. As ID.me continues to grow, Gitig said he’s excited to see the shift in consumer habits. 

“We’ll see this flip from identity as a service provider to a network that really adds value by enabling consumers to control their identity and then in a streamlined way create that one password that encapsulates who they and push it to where they are.” 

Gitig said he believes this is the first D.C. metro area company the firm has invested in, but he did hint that they’ve been eyeing a few other companies in the region for future investments.

Ryan: A bunch of hiring news today, so much we’re gonna bullet it! 

• Tenable Network Security is announcing the expansion of its executive team with two key hires that will lead the company through its next phase of growth. John Negron, most recently VP of Global Security Sales at Cisco, and Jennifer Johnson, former Chief Marketing Officer at Tanium, have joined Tenable as the company’s first Chief Revenue Officer and Chief Marketing Officer, respectively.
• Morgan Gibson has joined Wedding Wire as Digital Content Manager. She previously served as the Digital Editor at Brides magazine.
• LiveSafe, the Alexandria-based mobile safety communications platform, today announced the hiring of Noelle Topetzes as General Counsel and Vice President of Corporate Services

Sam: Yoooooo, welcome to Wednesday, D.C. Tonight’s agenda is pretty empty here, but tomorrow is jam packed, so why not spend the night resting up for events such as The National Hardware Cup pitch competition in Arlington, or GW’s version of Shark Tank called Dolphin Tank. All the details to all of the best DC Tech events in our DC Inno Approved.

Ryan: Here are some of our best stories from the last few months highlighting female founders and innovation leaders in the area:

• Report: DC is the Best City for Women in Tech
• How Beacon Will Solidify D.C.’s Ranking As Best For Women Startup Founders
• Meet The Women Behind Ivy City’s Crowdfunded Whiskey Distillery
• 8 Local Female Startup Founders Who Have Raised More than $1M
• Pineapple DC Aims to Empower Women in District’s Food Industry
• How This D.C. Student Entrepreneur is Keeping Food Banks Stocked

What do you want to see in this email?

GM: Ryan Ferguson ryan@dcinno.com

Staff Writer: Sam Sabin sam@dcinno.com

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