Feature

Rosslyn cybersecurity Shift5 accelerates its growth, fueled by new fundraising

By Hallie LeTendre

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups, founders, and other local technology news. Monday Properties is proudly featuring Three Ballston Plaza.

Cybersecurity company Shift5 is experiencing rapid growth as it develops technology to safeguard the world’s military fleets, plane and train systems.

The Rosslyn-based startup has been steadily raising money, including $33 million last month, adding to $50 million raised last year. Shift5 has ridden this wave of investor interest, using it to expand its office space, add employees and, most recently, launch a new program to predict and avoid failures in military, rail and aviation technology.

“This [funding] has allowed us to invest in not just our employees, but also the greater Arlington community,” Shift5 CEO Josh Lospinoso told ARLnow. “Our expanding presence in Arlington enables us to continue driving the pace of technology outside the Silicon Valley while keeping an active pulse on the decisions being made at the Pentagon to improve and advance critical infrastructure.”

Lospinoso says Shift5 nabbed the extra $33 million because investors are interested in its stability and connections.

Shift5 CEO Josh Lospinoso (via Shift5)

“We’ve seen tremendous benefit from strategic investor involvement and wanted to expand their participation. Shift5 has eliminated bottom-line risk, found strategic points of connection with other industry leaders and brought them into our Series B funding,” Lospinoso said.

The most recent fundraising round, led by Moore Ventures with contributions from JetBlue Ventures, Booz Allen Ventures and Teamworthy Ventures, brings its total Series B fundraising to $83 million.

Within weeks of the funding news, the company had another announcement: a new program that will use artificial intelligence to improve maintenance and the operational intelligence services Shift5 provides, a spokeswoman said.

“Fleets generate enormous amounts of data that can be game-changing for how they’re maintained and secured, but most operators only have access to a small fraction of this data,” a press release said. “Shift5’s module will unlock this data, arming operators with the insights and context needed to secure their assets, improve performance and prevent system failures.”

While the company has racked up investors, in the last year it has also more than doubled its annual recurring revenue and number of customers representing the military and private companies.

Lospinoso said the additional $33 million will go toward making sure the company can meet the needs of its growing customer base.

“It will help us double down on our mission to unlock onboard data and increase observability for rail, aviation and military systems operators,” he said. “More specifically, as customer demand increases this extension funding will provide Shift5 additional runway to innovate for our customers and invest in our business and team.”

Shift5 founders deploy their product on a train during COVID-19 (courtesy of Shift5)
News

Petition filed by Union Kitchen employee to end relationship with union is B.S., union rep says

By Matt Blitz
Union Kitchen in Ballston (staff photo)

A petition filed by a Union Kitchen employee is calling for the end to its relationship with its labor union, but the union is dismissing the effort as a ploy by management.

It was announced on Friday that a Union Kitchen employee has filed a petition with the National Labor Review Board (NLRB) to end its relationship with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400. The petition has reportedly been signed by a number of Union Kitchen employees, including those who work at the Ballston location

This would effectively end UFCW Local 400’s ability to bargain and support unionized employees at Union Kitchen.

“Employees of five Union Kitchen Grocery locations in the Washington, DC, metro area have filed a petition seeking to end United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400’s monopoly bargaining power over workers,” reads a press release. “The employees submitted their decertification petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 5 with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.”

But a UFCW Local 400 spokesperson insisted that this effort isn’t legit, accusing Union Kitchen management of being involved in the petition and using potentially illegal tactics, like intimidating employees, to sign the petition.

“Our take is that it’s basically bullshit,” Travis Acton said. “We knew this was coming. This is not a surprise. The only thing, honestly, that caught me by surprise is how blatantly illegal they’re going about it.”

It was just over a year ago when employees at five Union Kitchens voted in favor of forming a union, including the one in Ballston on Wilson Blvd. That came after a long-running effort that was delayed due to challenged ballots and charges of unfair labor practices. It has continued to be a contentious relationship ever since.

In November, the NLRB determined that Union Kitchen management violated 26 counts of labor law including union-busting tactics and wrongfully terminating employees. In March of this year, the union filed a wage theft lawsuit against management. And just last month, the union called for a boycott of all Union Kitchen locations.

The boycott remains ongoing, Acton said.

The employees who are calling for the decertification are being provided “free legal aid” by National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a non-profit with a mission to “eliminate coercive union power and compulsory unionism abuses.”

In the press release sent out by National Right to Work, the organization said that a single employee submitted the petition but it has been supported “by the vast majority of her coworkers.” The employee claimed in a letter sent to Union Kitchen CEO Cullen Gilchrist that close to 90% of workers signed the petition, as reported by the Washington Business Journal.

Acton said that those numbers might be misleading. He told ARLnow that in recent months the company has significantly added to the list of employees that are eligible to be represented by the union. Acton claims that a number of those added employees are actually people in management roles, those who own brands sold at the store, and those who might have personal relationships with Gilchrist.

“Nobody’s ever seen them work in the store or work an actual shift in the store,” he said.

Plus, Acton claimed, that he’s heard from employees who felt like they were forced to sign the petition or they would get fired.

“Based on our experience over the last six months to a year of them firing anybody who comes to the bargaining table, who supports the union, I believe them,” he said.

Intimidation of this nature is potentially illegal, according to federal law.

As expected, Union Kitchen CEO Cullen Gilchrist supports the petition to end the company’s employees’ relationship with the union and specifically noted the ongoing boycott as the reason for his support in the following email to ARLnow.

(more…)

Sponsored

Police investigating gunfire that damaged window in Green Valley

By ARLnow.com
Police car at night (file photo courtesy Kevin Wolf)

Arlington County police are investigating shots fired in the Green Valley neighborhood.

The gunfire rang out around 10 p.m. Friday night near The Shelton apartment complex. No injuries were reported but a bullet damaged a window in a nearby residential building.

More, below, from an ACPD crime report.

SHOTS FIRED, 2025-10100198, 3200 block of 24th Street S. At approximately 10:01 p.m. on October 10, police were dispatched to the report of possible shots heard in the area. During the course of the investigation, officers recovered evidence confirming shots had been fired in the area and property damage to the window of a residential building was located. No injuries were reported. There are no suspect(s) descriptions. The investigation is ongoing.

The same block was the scene of a shooting in November 2024. The teen victim of that shooting survived his serious injuries.

Around Town

Surreal restaurant hoping for fall opening in Crystal City but details remain sparse

By Matt Blitz
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Surreal is aiming for a fall opening in Crystal City, but much still remains unknown about the restaurant, situated in a park-like setting.

Surreal, from the award-winning D.C.-based chef Enrique Limardo, is set to move into a newly-constructed space in the JBG Smith-owned courtyard of 2121 Crystal Drive. The restaurant is part of the developer’s “Dining in the Park” project and will utilize both indoor and outdoor areas while being “set among more than an acre of greenery.”

Photos taken by ARLnow last week show that construction is moving along and apparently nearing completion.

A JBG Smith spokesperson confirmed to ARLnow that the plan is for the restaurant to open in the fall, a slight push from an earlier late summer goal.

It was back in October 2021 when Surreal was first announced to much fanfare. However, in the two years since, few details have emerged about the exact concept, the menu, and the decor.

When asking for more information, the spokesperson wrote in an email that “there is nothing new to share at this time” despite the restaurant being only a few months away from opening.

A few blocks away, meanwhile Crystal City’s revamped Water Park is also planning its opening. It will feature nine 300-square-foot restaurant kiosks, including local favorites like Queen Mother’s, Falafel Inc, and Tiki Thai.

Along with the restaurants, there will also be a live performance stage, public art installations, a building with public restrooms and bike facilities, and a “modernized fountain water wall” that empties into an “immersion fountain.” On top of the water wall will be an open-air raw and cocktail bar called “Water Bar.” A New York-style pizza place will also be located in the park.

A JBG Smith spokesperson told ARLnow is anticipating an August “soft opening” for the Water Park, with a grand opening set for shortly after Labor Day.

Around Town

After four decades in Arlington, Rick’s Tattoo is moving to Bailey’s Crossroads

By Jo DeVoe
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Rick’s Tattoo on Langston Blvd is moving at the end of the month.

The long-time Arlington tattoo parlor, self-described as the oldest in Virginia, was established in 1980 at 4818 Langston Blvd.

Manager Amy Barrow, who is overseeing the move after 16 years at the tattoo shop, says leaving Arlington — the shop is moving just over the county line to Bailey’s Crossroads — is bittersweet but there were more options, for less money, outside the county.

“Finding a place that meets our needs for as big as we need was difficult,” she said. “There was not much available.”

Rent was expensive and, anticipating plans to redevelop in a few years, some property owners are only offering shorter leases. Barrow instead wanted to find a new location for years to come.

She settled on a storefront in a shopping center in Bailey’s Crossroads at 5916 Leesburg Pike, up the road from a large shopping center where Leesburg Pike and Columbia Pike intersect. The new digs are on the ground floor and have ample parking — both steps up from the current second-floor studio with limited parking spots shared with other businesses.

“We’re just raising the bar, getting to code, and getting ready to ride out another 15 years in a new location,” she said.

Everything entailed with moving — finding contractors, getting permits and dealing with supply chain issues — has prolonged the move. Barrow began looking for a new place in April 2022.

“It’s been challenging,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot [about] how to build a business from the ground floor.”

As for Rick Cherry, the owner of the eponymous shop, he lives in Florida now, traveling the country to tattoo expos and demonstrating his handmade tattooing implements, according to the website for the business.

Over the years, his establishment has racked up recognitions, which hang on available wall space, greeting customers. That reception is a far cry from the cool treatment Cherry got from Arlington when he opened, however.

For the first five years, the county would not let him have a sign outside the door, says Barrow.

“Arlington County did not want him in town,” she said. “He kept them in court for five years. Finally he was able to put a sign on the door. And here we are.”

Hat tip to Buzz McClain

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