Editor’s Note: Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is now open. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.
After traveling back and forth from Australia to Arlington six times in one year, Duane Rivett his team at Fivecast came to a realization — they needed a permanent US presence, and Arlington was the perfect fit.
“Almost a month ago,” Rivett said, “I packed everything up and moved my family to Arlington to open our space in Ballston.”
Fivecast uses its artificial intelligence software, Fivecast Insights, to mine through publicly available data and extract potential threats in terrorism or cybersecurity. It has clients in the fields of law enforcement, defense, and national intelligence.
“We can’t disclose our clients,” Rivett said, “But we have a federal agency as a customer, and being close to tech-heavy areas such as Reston, Herndon, Sterling — it’s great.”
The company was founded in 2017 as a spin-off from Australia’s Data to Decisions Cooperative Research Centre. In July, Fivecast secured $2.6 million in venture capital funding, which was used for its international expansion into Arlington.
“Fivecast is a perfect example of what can be produced at the intersection of local technology driven industries like defense and a thriving deep technology ecosystem – high growth, global businesses that will retain and create skilled jobs and expertise in [Arlington],” said investor Dr. Elaine Stead in a statement.
Going forward, Rivett says he’s going to continue to work with a recruitment agency to expand Fivecast’s presence in Arlington — and getting his family, including two kids now in Arlington Public Schools — acclimated to America.
“It’s different for sure, but the kids really enjoyed getting to celebrate Halloween,” Rivett said. “That was a great time.”
