Author: Jennifer Currier

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.

Imagine a world where every person in every city or town or village in every country had access to fast, affordable Internet.

Satellite company OneWeb is working to make this vision a reality by launching a constellation of nearly 700 low-orbit satellites, and it’s moving to Rosslyn.

Last month, the company announced it is leasing 6,000 square feet of office space at 1400 Key Blvd, meaning OneWeb’s central operation will be moving to Arlington in the near future.

“Washington is one of the key international hubs for the aerospace and satellite industries, and the area’s deep talent pool will be a tremendous asset as we continue to expand our operations, including finding a site for a network operations center and a satellite operations center,” said OneWeb CEO Matt O’Connell about the move.

The space is part of Monday Properties’ Ground Floor, where other startups and “early stage” companies have also landed.

OneWeb is currently based on Jersey, one of Britain’s Channel Islands. The idea for worldwide Internet access first started in 2002 when founder Greg Wyler started a telecommunications company to bring low-cost cell phone and Internet service to people in Rwanda.

Still, Wyler knew he had to build many more satellites and bring them closer to Earth to achieve international communication, faster speeds, affordable costs and, ultimately, universal access. OneWeb is the means by which he hopes to finally do so.

“This is an enormous long-term project and our goal is to provide reliable high-speed internet access to all communities around the world who don’t currently have access,” O’Connell said. “We believe connectivity is a fundamental layer for societal and economic growth.”

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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.

Crystal City startup incubator Eastern Foundry is preparing for its second Foundry Cup, a themed competition for startups. Due to increased interest, the deadline to apply for the competition — which was originally scheduled for mid-January — has been extended to this Friday.

“There is a great deal of interest in this year’s Foundry Cup,” said Director of Partnerships and Events Lauren Schmidt. “Promising submissions have been rolling in steadily since we announced and because of a rather large influx of interested startups this January, we decided to extend our deadline.”

This winter’s event is called Foundry Cup: Portable Power. There is no application fee, and any startup working in or with an idea in this realm are welcome to apply.

According to the competition’s website, Eastern Foundry is seeking startups that create “effective off-grid power solutions” for men and women working and living in some of the world’s most challenging places. These can include FEMA first responders, military, USAID workers, hikers on isolated trails and more.

“The Foundry Cup is more than a competition and networking opportunity,” Schmidt said. “It creates a forum that brings together leaders and entrepreneurs with diverse backgrounds and across generations to tackle one of the largest problems in the world right now.”

The competition is looking for ideas that are eco-friendly and cost-effective, specifically with the potential to decrease government spending on fuel and other power sources.

It’s also looking for entrants from virtually anywhere, not just locally. While Schmidt said most applications so far have been from the D.C. area, they’ve also received some from the West Coast, other countries and students from universities.

The inaugural Foundry Cup was held in June 2015, during which startups were challenged with finding ways to detect and treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and fourteen finalists competed for the $10,000 first place prize.

This year, Schmidt said things will be a bit different.

The competition was shortened from 72 to 48 hours to keep entrants focused on displaying their best components and features on “Demo Day.” The new schedule also includes more time for networking, allowing competitors to interact with each other, government officials and other established business leaders.

While Schmidt said they expect at least 50 applications by Friday’s deadline, only 10 finalists will be selected, making this winter’s installment of the Cup more competitive. Those finalists — along with the venue — are expected to be announced on Feb. 15.

From then until Demo Day on March 25, the finalists will work to develop their ideas and prepare to present them to private business owners, government contractors, military and civilian agencies. The finalist startups will compete for $10,00 first place and $5,000 second place prizes. There will also be a “People’s Choice” award of $1,000.

Though it’s only the second installment of the competition, Schmidt said Eastern Foundry is hoping to make the Foundry Cup an annual event for startups to work to address timely and critical issues facing the world’s population.

“For this competition, we are hoping to advance and promote game-changing approaches to versatile, go-anywhere power sources that are long lasting and durable,” she said. “Our longer-term goal is to create a reliable and effective forum for exposure and discussion on how generations of innovators and startups are solving the world’s most pressing challenges.”

Photos courtesy of Eastern Foundry

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 completing two Congressional internships, Arlington resident Tiroune Oates was determined to build a better way for visitors to tour the United States Capitol Building.

Oates’ solution is a virtual reality mobile application called CapApp. Still in development, the app will contain the history of the building and give guests a closer look at the artwork and artifacts in it. This includes the frescos that cover the inside of the rotunda, which loom nearly 200 feet above Capitol visitors’ heads.

The 23-year-old wanted to put all this information in the hands of the people when he realized not everyone who visited the Capitol was having an equal or even enjoyable experience. After speaking to both tour guides and visitors after their tours, Oates observed people in the Capitol were mostly neutral about their time there.

“I loved the time I spent on the hill, so it was unfathomable to me that anyone had a less than perfect experience,” he said. “It was upsetting. It prompted me to talk to people more to find out what the issues really were.”

One of Oates’ responsibilities as an intern was giving constituents tours of the Capitol, so he started to feel for himself what the tours were missing.

“As interns, we felt really embarrassed when we took out our notebooks or when someone asked a question we felt like we couldn’t answer,” Oates said. “I knew there were problems with the quality of information given and the quality of the tours themselves.”

“Then I thought, if this was all in an app, pulling out a phone to quickly find information that was accurate and share it would be much less cumbersome,” he continued. “I thought an app lent itself to an easier retelling of information and would greatly improve the overall experience at the Capitol.”

Now living near Shirlington, Oates is continuing work on building the app with developers. Much of this work has been trial and error as it’s the finance and philosophy major’s first thorough venture into technology.

“For the last year or so, I’ve taken every chance I get to learn the basics of coding or network with people in the business so I can better communicate with my developers and make the app as comprehensive as it can be,” he said.

Eventually, the CapApp will also be customizable for tourists, staff members and student groups alike. Oates believes these personal features, the virtual reality element and the instant accessibility to everything in the Capitol will put his app bounds ahead of the existing visitor guide apps coordinated by the Architect of the Capitol.

More than that, Oates said the decisions he made while creating the app were all based on accounts of tour guides he grew close to. He said he continues to make frequent trips to the Capitol to get feedback from these people, who have become reliable friends.

“When I first had the idea, it was because I needed it and knew it would be helpful,” he said. “But this app quickly became more than that. It was built based on the stories of all the people who could use it best, and their suggestions have been incredibly helpful.”

“It’s a really exciting project for me, and it’s been a good three weeks,” Oates said. “The results of this Kickstarter campaign will help me figure out where to go next. The possibilities for the app are great, and I’m excited to see where it goes next.”

When it’s first released — which Oates hopes will be sometime this year — CapApp will be free and available for iPhone.