Fire 
Do you know of organizations or individuals that set the innovation scene on Fire? Tell us about them by completing a nomination for Inno on Fire.
Powered by:
Just like that, 2018 is almost over. As everyone takes a moment to look back at what’s happened in the past 12 months, we’re busy looking ahead.
We cover the D.C. metro's startup scene everyday, which you can read about on our site or in our daily newsletter, The Beat. If you read that, you probably already know who made big moves in 2018. But which startups are poised for huge things in 2019?
We’ve been exploring that question by reaching out the venture capitalists, founders, accelerator leaders and checking our own notebooks and past stories to pull out the 19 D.C. Startups to Watch in 2019.
A few of the names on this list are already pretty well-known — so well-known they’ve won national pitch competitions and signed term sheets with investors like Revolution's Rise of the Rest. Others have some of the top accelerators and rising D.C. tech stars behind their name, but they’ve spent the better part of the past year heads down. What they all have in common is the opportunity to blow up this year, whether through a big Series B round, all-star client addition or international expansion.
Without further ado, here’s our list of 19 startups to watch in 2019.
Cybrary
Greenbelt, Md.-based Cybrary, which offers online cybersecurity training, is kicking off the new year with a new headquarters in College Park that it says eventually will add 200 jobs to its current 37-employee headcount. Founded in 2015, the startup already has 2 million worldwide users and grew revenue by up to 400 percent in the last year. It has raised about $7 million in total venture funding, including a recent $2.5 million round, and is eyeing a Series B effort in early 2019.
Equiday
Rockville, Md.-based fintech startup Equiday just got started last year, but already has signed on two major U.S. school districts to roll out its funding model software. It’s working with Prince George’s County Public Schools and Indianapolis Public Schools, which combined serve nearly 400 schools and 160,000 students. The company in October was raising a seed round of up to $900,000 and it currently has three employees, but look for that to grow: Next year, student-level spending data by schools will be made public for the first time, and finance departments will need software like Equiday’s to handle it.
Fundrise
D.C. fintech startup Fundrise, founded in 2010, has tallied three-year revenue growth of more than 7,000 percent, and now has nearly 50 employees. Its online platform uses crowdfunding to allow users to invest in real estate at lower costs. Its revenue in 2017 was $14.7 million, which was projected to grow significantly this year, and the lowest average annualized return in the past four years was 8.76 percent. Fundrise also says it has been quietly accumulating property near Amazon’s HQ2 location in Crystal City.
GetUpside
D.C.-based gas station deals app GetUpside branched out and expanded into restaurants and grocery stores last month as it gears up for a busy 2019. The startup was founded in 2016 and already is used in more than 5,000 locations in 13 states. It says it has saved users $6.9 million on gas payments and this year grew from a dozen employees to 40. COO Wayne Lin has said GetUpside is looking to hire more in D.C. as it expands to more cities – in Baltimore it’s added about 100 gas stations in a year.
Goodshuffle
Four-year-old Goodshuffle, which makes software tracking inventory for event companies, this year launched a new platform and raised a healthy portion of financing as it plans to scale rapidly in 2019. David Adler, founder of event-planning platform BizBash Media, invested over $500,000 in the D.C.-based startup.
HawkEye 360
Three-year-old Herndon startup HawkEye 360 was one of 35 paying customers strapped to the top of the Falcon 9 rocket in recent weeks. Once aloft, Hawkeye’s three satellites will be able to triangulate and pinpoint any given radio signal. Eventually, it hopes to have 10 separate, three-satellite flocks zooming around the globe. With that much hardware, it will be able to scan any part of the world in less than 30 minutes.
INKY
Rockville, Md.-based INKY raised $5.6 million in Series A funding to emerge from stealth mode this year with its flagship product, INKY Phish Fence. The cybersecurity startup uses AI to identify and block phishing emails. It's led by Dave Baggett, who co-founded airfare search company ITA Software and sold it to Google in 2011 for $730 million. If INKY has a fraction of that success, it will be a big name by 2020.
MeSpoke
Two-year-old MeSpoke, a digital community for retail shopping, has a $1 million seed round in the works to ramp up operations as it grows retail partnerships with household brands. Some 3,500 brands and retailers already have been added to the platform, which was created in Florida but now is based in Reston. Gartner selected MeSpoke as one of five Cool Vendors in 2017, a distinction also won by Airbnb and Uber. It’s projected to reach $500,000 in revenue for 2019 and $1 million by 2021.
Pie Insurance
Pie Insurance, which helps small businesses purchase workers’ comp insurance online, stood up a full digital insurance operation in less than a year, launching in seven states in June 2018 with more states to launch by yearend. In late July it closed an $11 million Series A funding round, bringing it to a total $15 million of capital raised. Pie doubled its headcount this year and plans to continue hiring at that rate in 2019.
Quorum
D.C.-based public affairs tech startup Quorum moved into new digs this summer as it approached 70 employees, just three years after its founding in a Harvard dorm room. The platform allows public affairs professionals to track legislation, mobilize grassroots support and manage stakeholders. It has built up its client list quickly this year as political spending for midterms reached all-time highs, a trend that could benefit the company through 2020.
Rooam
D.C.-born Rooam, a tab payment app for nightlife and hospitality venues, is expanding from the metro area for the first time this winter as it launches operations in Chicago and Los Angeles. It also acquired competing payment app Tally, putting its platform in the hands of several prominent Chicago restaurant groups. Since launching in October 2016 in the D.C. metro, the startup has signed on more than 330 locations. Recently, its September user growth was triple the monthly average, and in October it tripled that number – just in the District.
Sequoia
Sequoia Inc., a Reston-based software development and engineering company, was ranked on Inc.’s list of fastest-growing private companies for a third consecutive year, and has doubled its employee headcount and annual revenue in that timeframe. In February, the company launched a highly anticipated blockchain platform for public sector smart contracts, partnering with Blu Venture Investors and Noblis for the project. It employs more than 40 people and will soon add another 20 as the growth continues.
United Income
D.C.-based United Income, a digital investment advisory firm geared toward older or retired customers, raised more than $10 million in an August funding round, two years after Matt Fellowes launched it with about $5 million in funding. The startup already has $617 million in assets under management, giving it money and names behind it: Fellowes founded HelloWallet in 2009 before selling it to Morningstar Inc. in 2014 for $52 million, and United Income is also backed by eBay Inc. founder Pierre Omidyar.
UpsideDoor
Herndon-based real estate startup UpsideDoor is planning a new round of funding, new brand name and new business model in 2019. The company launched in 2015 offering brokerage services, but with a trove of data, is pivoting to focus on connecting soon-to-sell homeowners with third-party service providers for things like renovations and new appliances. It plans to change its name in early 2019 to reflect the switch.
Vemo Education
Vemo Education, which designs performance-based tuition programs to colleges, has signed on institutions like Purdue University and Norwich University, been featured in The Economist and raised $7.4 million in funding in 2018. Former Blackboard Chief Strategy Officer Katie Blot joined the Arlington-based edtech company in August to lead its growth spurt, which has been bolstered by increased scrutiny on student loan providers.
WireWheel
Arlington-based WireWheel, a SaaS platform for data privacy, secured $10 million in Series A funding in October, including continued investments from New Enterprise Associates and Revolution’s Rise of the Rest fund. The 2-year-old startup uses machine learning technology to help companies comply with privacy regulations, and it’s already signed on customers including Under Armor Inc. and Blackboard Inc. With a growing international focus on data privacy, including GDPR guidelines, plenty more big firms are bound to join that list.
Xometry
Gaithersburg, Md.-based Xometry Inc. added $25 million in funding and acquired rival startup MakeTime this year as it continues its growth spurt. Founded in 2013, the company operates an on-demand manufacturing platform. Xometry has now raised a total to date of $63 million. The deal more than doubled its manufacturer network from 1,100 to 2,300 and added about 30 employees, bringing its combined total to 170. It more than doubled its revenue in the last year as well, standing now at around $40 million, and recently eclipsed 10,000 customers. And that client list will serve it well: It includes BMW, General Electric and NASA, among other big names.
Yombu
McLean, Va.-based Yombu recently closed an over-subscribed $585,000 round of funding and has expanded into a 20-location gym chain in Manhattan, as well as piloting a biometric application with another fitness chain and expanding into California and Colorado. The startup allows patrons of gyms and other businesses to sign in or make purchases with a fingerprint. It’s raised a total $1.8 million since launching in 2016, including seed rounds in September 2017 and February this year, which it’s rapidly starting to turn into new clients.
