Feature

Local startup combines social media with banking to appeal to millennials and Gen Z

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. 

A local startup is providing younger generations with a new way to understand banking and finances.

Wellthi is a software tool that grants financial advice on a social media-like platform. It can be used through its independent app that is available to download, or within mobile apps of participating banks.

“Think of it as a Facebook or LinkedIn within a mobile banking app,” founder and CEO Fonta Gilliam said. “We are helping banks rethink their mobile banking experience.”

Fonta Gilliam and Nneka Ukpai of Wellthi (via Wellthi)

The company, initially named Invest Sou Sou, officially launched in 2021. Since then, it has formed partnerships with Mastercard, Discover Card, Galileo Financial Technologies and IDology. Citizens Bank recently became the first banking partner to launch with Wellthi, Gilliam said.

She aims to bridge the gap between the financial services banks provide and the places younger generations turn for finance tips: social media.

“We found that a lot of banks don’t know how to talk to millennials and Gen Z. 80% of us get our financial advice not from our branch managers or a financial advisor but from places like Reddit, TikTok and Facebook,” Gilliam said. “Wellthi gives users an experience that feels like say Reddit or TikTok but in a space where users can talk to certified financial advisors versus random influencers on social media.”

Wellthi received funding from Virginia Venture Partners (VVP), an equity investment program within the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation. The funds given to Wellthi from VVP were partially through the U.S. Treasury Department’s State Small Business Credit Initiative for a confidential amount.

She hinted at a few other undisclosed partnerships with banks.

The VPP funding follows on a seed funding round in December worth $2.1 million, Washington Business Journal reported. Gilliam says she moved her startup from D.C. to Arlington to take advantage of the various types of support available for startups, as well as the county’s hub of tech companies.

“Arlington had incredible incentives. I was looking for a [place] that could provide venture capital for early-stage companies like mine,” Gilliam said. “I was excited about the growth happening right now in Northern Virginia from Amazon’s HQ2 to the welcoming business feel the area gives.”

She says she hopes that this proximity will turn into more interest from local consumers and small businesses in the near future.

Wellthi promo (via Wellthi/Instagram)
Around Town

It’s finally tee time for Columbia Pike’s Par Citi

By Matt Blitz
1/5

Today is finally tee time at Par Citi Golf on Columbia Pike.

The virtual indoor golf facility at 3102 Columbia Pike is opening today, per a press release. It’s located inside of the old LoanMax building and next to the combination Baskin Robbins/Dunkin’ Donuts.

As a spokesperson told ARLnow back in May, the independently-owned Par Citi is set to be similar to Five Iron Golf in D.C.

“Our state-of-the-art facility is equipped with the latest technology, allowing you to simulate a round of golf on some of the world’s most renowned courses,” a press release reads. “Our simulators provide an immersive and realistic experience, allowing you to practice, compete and improve your game all in a climate-controlled environment.”

The complex will also feature a cafe and bar, though it’s unclear if the bar will be opening immediately with the Virginia ABC license still pending.

It was back in September when ARLnow first reported that Par Citi was set to take its swings on Columbia Pike. Initially, the plan was to open that fall and then in May, but it appears permitting delays pushed it back a few months.

On first look, Par Citi’s location may seem like a bit off the green. It’s occupying a building that once housed a car title lending company and is next to a Shell gas station-slash-donut shop.

But a spokesperson said that Columbia Pike’s eventual redevelopment with new condos, apartments, and mixed-use buildings provides lots of “potential” and a future source of golf-loving customers for the indoor virtual simulator complex.

“This is a golfers paradise built by avid golfers,” a press release notes. “We have thought a lot about the details we would want to find in a place where we will spend a lot of time playing and practicing.”

Expansion plans are already in the works for Par Citi with another facility planned for D.C. “in [the] coming months.”

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News

Demolition of the RCA building in Rosslyn set to wrap up this month

By Jo DeVoe
1/7

What remains of the RCA building in Rosslyn looks like something pulled from a post-apocalyptic film.

Demolition work for the building (1901 N. Moore Street) has been ongoing since the end of March and the pedestrian bridge to a building next door was removed in the spring.

Now, passers-by can see a narrowed shell of the building with rebar, pipes and wires drooping from it.

By the end of this month, the RCA building will be “demolished to grade,” notes a calendar on a website providing updates on the building’s progress.

The website also projects a sanitary and storm sewer system will be installed by mid-July or by the end of this month. Once this is done, and electrical infrastructure is relocated, workers will begin installing a retaining wall that will keep the ground in place as they excavate.

“Once at the subgrade, we’ll excavate for the new building’s footings and erect two tower cranes to start pouring concrete,” the website says.

The construction company overseeing the project, CBG Building Company, has “a light pollution reduction and rainwater management plan in order to protect the community’s natural habitat and minimize the project’s environmental impact,” the website adds.

The developer, Jefferson Apartment Group (JAG), will replace the RCA building with a 27-story apartment complex composed of two towers that share a podium and are joined at the rooftop by a sky bridge.

The building, one block from the Rosslyn Metro station, will also have 11,444 square feet of retail space. Planned amenities for residents include a fitness center, pet spa, landscaped patio, green rooftop terrace and a pool.

JAG is aiming to complete the new structure in January 2026.

Around Town

A lounging Lady Liberty to lie down in Arlington for the next year

By Jo DeVoe
1/4

A 25-foot-long lounging Lady Liberty is emigrating from the New York area and taking up residence in Arlington, among its bronze Marines and steel spires.

During the first week of August, “Reclining Liberty” — inspired by traditional Asian art depicting the reclining Buddha on the path to enlightenment — will move to the front lawn of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) Arlington. She will be transported by truck and a crane will position her.

“Reclining Liberty” hoisted by a crane (via Zaq Landsberg/Instagram)

After year-long stints in Harlem and Liberty State Park in New Jersey, she will lie in repose in front of the recently rebranded art museum in Arlington (3550 Wilson Blvd) until July 28 of next year, per a press release from MoCA Arlington.

MoCA Arlington Curator of Exhibitions Blair Murphy tells ARLnow she reached out to artist Zaq Landsberg and sold him on bringing Lady Liberty to Arlington. They agreed it would be fitting to juxtapose her and Arlington’s war memorials and defense infrastructure and D.C.’s monuments.

“Recontextualizing ‘Reclining Liberty’ in Arlington makes sense for our current moment. Placing it within a few miles of Arlington National Cemetery, the Pentagon, the National Mall, etc, adds a new layer onto the work,” Landsberg said in a statement.

“[It] allows for a new set of meaningful interactions with different communities, and adds to the local and national reevaluation of monuments — their history, how they function in public space, how they’ve changed from their inception, and their impact on society,” he continued.

Against this backdrop, MoCA curators say they hope “Reclining Liberty” encourages viewers to contemplate the ideals of the Statue of Liberty.

“I love that the work brings the Statue down to the eye level and reach of the public. Its playfulness and accessibility suggest that the ideals of liberty and freedom represented by the Statue of Liberty are active, tangible, and evolving and need to be directly engaged with, debated, and defended,” Murphy said in a statement.

“Reclining Liberty” was originally installed in Morningside Park in Manhattan in April of 2021. Last May, she moved to New Jersey to greet those taking ferries to Liberty Island, per the press release.

Her arrival will be marked with an opening celebration with an artist talk, food, art and other family friendly activities on Aug. 5 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The museum also has a series of accompanying talks and conversations, in partnership with Arlington Public Art, which will address issues related to the work: the role of monuments and memorials in public life, immigration and democracy, Murphy said. A schedule is forthcoming.

The budget for the project is $45,000, which includes the costs for the programs. Funding from Arlington Public Art is covering half and MoCA Arlington is covering the other half, Murphy said.

“Arlington Public Art is delighted to co-sponsor this ‘enlightened’ temporary public art project in the County’s Maury Park,” Director of Arlington Public Art Angela Anderson Adams said in a statement. “We look forward to the community conversations that this sculpture will inspire including those related to monuments and memorials, immigration, and our democratic ideals.”

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