startup

Former Arlington Startup CEO Pleads Guilty to Fraud

By ARLnow.com

Once high-flying local startup Trustify was able to grow due to a massive fraud perpetrated by its former CEO and co-founder, according to federal prosecutors.

Just three years ago, Danny Boice was the toast of the Arlington startup scene. Virginia’s former governor and Arlington’s former County Board chair praised his plan to add 184 jobs in Trustify’s sparkling new Crystal City offices — a plan that, if carried out, would have made him eligible for nearly $120,000 in economic development incentives.

But the grand vision for a thriving “Uber-for-private-investigators” service never came to fruition.

Behind the scenes, the investments that allowed Trustify to grow were being solicited with fraudulent information, overstating Trustify’s financial performance, and eventually the facade came crashing down. The company was placed into bankruptcy proceedings last year.

Boice, a 41-year-old Alexandria resident, pleaded guilty this week to one count of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud in connection to the scheme, according to the U.S. Dept. of Justice. He’s set to be sentenced in March.

Not only did Boice lie to get $18.5 million in investment, the DOJ said, but he diverted nearly $4 million to his personal benefit, including homes and a private jet.

While some frauds may go unnoticed, the Trustify fraud was called out in real time by a devoted critic of Boice and the company. A local tech watchdog who went by the name “Mr. Cranky” wrote at the time of the governor’s jobs announcement, on a now-defunct blog, that Boice and his ex-wife/co-founder were “two low life scum, pretending to be entrepreneurs.”

“It is my opinion that Danny and [his ex-wife] are financing their luxurious lifestyle by crowdfunding money for their Dumpster Fire and using that cash for vacations, house payments, and private schools while investing little in the company,” he wrote. An earlier “Mr. Cranky” post reprinted a letter from Boice’s attorney demanding that he “cease and desist from continuing to publish false and intentionally disparaging statements about Mr. Boice and his company Trustify.”

The full DOJ press release about Boice’s guilty plea is below.

The former chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of Trustify, Inc. (Trustify), a privately-held technology company founded in 2015 and based in Arlington, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to his involvement in a fraud scheme resulting in millions of dollars of losses to investors.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Assistant Director in Charge Steven M. D’Antuono of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement.

Daniel Boice, 41, of Alexandria, Virginia, pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud before Senior United States District Judge T.S. Ellis III of the Eastern District of Virginia. Sentencing is scheduled for March 19, 2021.

According to admissions made in connection with the plea agreement, beginning in 2015,  Boice fraudulently solicited investments in Trustify, a privately held technology start-up company that connected customers with private investigators. Boice raised approximately $18.5 million from over 90 investors by, among other things, falsely overstating Trustify’s financial performance. Despite representing to investors that their funds would go towards operating and growing Trustify’s business, Boice diverted at least $3.7 million for his own benefit and to fund his lifestyle. This included the purchase of a home in Alexandria, Virginia, travel by private jet, and furnishing a seaside vacation home.

The FBI’s Washington Field Office is investigating the case.  Trial Attorney Blake Goebel of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell Carlberg of the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting the case.

Individuals who believe they may be a victim in this case should contact the Victim Witness Services Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at 703-299-3700 for more information.

Dorsata Improves Physician-Patient Experience in Women’s Health

By Jo DeVoe

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 Shirlington Gateway. The new 2800 Shirlington recently delivered a brand-new lobby and upgraded fitness center, and is adding spec suites with bright open plans and modern finishes. Experience a prime location and enjoy being steps from Shirlington Village. 

(Updated on 12/18/20 at 5:15 p.m.) Three years ago, David Fairbrothers was running out of ideas, and money, to boost his fledgling company. But he took a chance and booked the cheapest booth at a women’s health conference.

He and his business partner, both alumni of the University of Virginia, were developing a platform that would make it easier for doctors to use electronic health records systems. Without a singular field of medicine as its focus, however, the idea was languishing.

After settling into their booth at the conference for the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, they met an executive who explained a pain point for ACOG: Whenever the organization releases new clinical guidance, it can take up to a decade for it to be consistently implemented.

That was when the idea for Dorsata was born.

“It was an accident and a stroke of good fortune,” Fairbrothers said.

In addition to helping ACOG get clinical guidance implemented, Dorsata — which is based in Clarendon, at 3100 Clarendon Blvd — improves the process of documenting patient visits. Before the next visit, Dorsata helps remind the doctor of the patient’s particular situation and creates a to-do list adapted to her needs.

“Part of the core problem is that electronic health record systems do not serve doctors especially well, and for Ob-Gyn doctors, it is really bad for documenting care,” Fairbrothers said.

Some electronic medical information systems are unwieldy, and doctors prefer taking freehand notes, but inputting the notes later is time-consuming and may not get done. Other times, without accessible documentation, changes mid-pregnancy might fall through the cracks if a patient is seen by multiple doctors.

The platform has gained a foothold in American obstetrics. Today, Dorsata has more than 1,600 clinical users in 19 states, and has served more than 113,000 patients and managed nearly 794,000 appointments. And this month, Dorsata signed expansion contracts with Privia Health and Women’s Health USA, which will increase the number of Ob-Gyns the company serves by 200 over the next two years.

Dorsata is not just growing its clientele during the pandemic: It is also finding new revenue sources and benefits for its users.

While the coronavirus cannot stop babies, it can grind elective surgeries to a halt. Providers saw gynecology appointments drop by 80% “overnight,” Fairbrothers said.

“Pregnancy has been their saving grace,” he said. But it does not make up for the lost revenue.

In partnership with providers, Dorsata shares data with researchers. Typically, medical researchers gather data at one academic hospital, limiting the scope of data geographically, he said. Dorsata is generating revenue by furnishing researchers with data gathered from every corner of the U.S.

“This allows providers to generate value, financial and scientific, from documenting their patients’ progress,” Fairbrothers said. “This is real world data that we stumbled into and we have a strong opportunity to corner the market.”

With the growth in clients and revenue, Dorsata itself is expanding. The company is planning to double the size of its workforce over the next year, Fairbrothers said.

CareerGig Connects Freelancers and Companies Needing Work

By Jo DeVoe

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 Shirlington Gateway. The new 2800 Shirlington recently delivered a brand-new lobby and upgraded fitness center, and is adding spec suites with bright open plans and modern finishes. Experience a prime location and enjoy being steps from Shirlington Village. 

A new startup in Clarendon is riding the wave of workers who took the freelancing plunge this year due to the pandemic.

CareerGig (3100 Clarendon Blvd), which officially started operating in July, provides to freelancers the health and retirement benefits that a full-time employee might enjoy, and triple-verifies the qualifications of freelancers for companies that lack the time and resources to do deep dives themselves.

And CareerGig founder Greg Kihlström recently received confirmation that his idea could be profitable.

Last week, CareerGig participated in the Newchip Accelerator’s Online Demo Week, a three-day global online event that allows invited startups to present their companies to potential investors. Being recognized by Newchip will make it easier for CareerGig to raise money, he said.

Like platforms such as UpWork, CareerGig helps freelancers find work, but primarily the company provides independent contractors with health, life and disability insurance, vision and dental coverage, retirement plans and paid time off.

“I’ve been freelancing since the late ’90s,” Kihlström said. “What we saw lacking was how do independents take care of the rest of their lives.”

Additionally, from a company’s perspective, the way freelancers are verified is broken in many ways, he said.

“LinkedIn is great, but there are a lot of inaccuracies, because you only include the things that make you attractive,” he said.

CareerGig verifies potential workers by confirming a potential hire’s claims through a third party, such as a reference, as well as through independent, objective means, including skills assessments. That is where CareerGig excels, Kihlström said.

The founder predicts more people will be making the decision to work remotely, and possibly freelance, after getting a taste of work-from-home life during the coronavirus shutdowns.

Before the pandemic, research from Upwork predicted that 50% of workers in the United States would be freelancing by 2027, up from 36% in 2017. This past year, more than 2 million people started freelancing, according to a new Upwork study.

“We’ve been doing remote work long enough to form habits,” Kihlström said. “If this had gone on for 3 weeks, world would have returned to normal, but we’ve been doing this for nine months, and we’ve established habits.”

Although his team is spread throughout the country, Kihlström lives in Arlington and the company is headquartered here. He said he has a longstanding relationship with Arlington Economic Development.

“I’ve found Arlington to be very supportive of startups,” he said. “It’s a good place to be located.”

The team of 12 (plus contractors) will be growing over the next couple of months, Kihlström said.

Storyblocks Launches Campaign to Diversify Stock Video Footage

By Jo DeVoe

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 Shirlington Gateway. The new 2800 Shirlington recently delivered a brand-new lobby and upgraded fitness center, and is adding spec suites with bright open plans and modern finishes. Experience a prime location and enjoy being steps from Shirlington Village. 

Courthouse-based Storyblocks, an online platform for stock video footage, has released new video content meant to close the diversity gap in media and advertising.

The company, at 1515 N. Courthouse Road, trained eight creators to make video collections specifically depicting people of color and members of the LGBT communities doing everyday activities. These reels are part of a campaign, Re: Stock, which was launched to address the need for videos of people with different racial identities, sizes, abilities and sexual orientations.

“Sourcing from authentic places will lead to authentic footage and authentic representation,” said Sydney Carlton, Director of Brand Marketing at Storyblocks.

The first batch of videos were released starting in mid-October. Although the pandemic delayed the launch from this spring Storyblocks aims to double its diverse content by the end of 2021 and quadruple it by the end of 2022.

The push comes after years of feedback from clients asking for more diverse footage, since existing footage tends to skew towards white subjects and straight couples.

“We were receiving hundreds and hundreds of comments for more people of color and more same-sex couples,” Carlton said. “It really ran the gamut, but it was loud and a lot.”

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A recent company survey found that 72% of users — who include independent filmmakers, advertisers and journalists — said diverse content is important for their projects, but people of color are represented in just 5% of Storyblocks’ current digital library.

“You can only find happy white women eating salads,” Carlton said.

The problem is primarily due to location and access, since most stock video contributors hail from Eastern Europe, where creators do not have the same access to a diverse array of subjects, she said.

The first collections were produced by Monica Singleton and Samson Binutu. They focused on Black families educating their children, Black teens and adults in romantic relationships, family dinners at home and Black women enjoying the outdoors.

“These are things people do every single day,” Carlton said. “That’s the power of the campaign.”

In a statement, Singleton said her personal experience searching footage libraries made her excited to join the project.

“In the past when I’ve looked for certain stock footage or music, it’s been really hard to find representation for people that look like me,” Singleton said.

Future Storyblocks projects will focus on people with from other racial identities, and with a range of body shapes and sizes as well as abilities. Going deeper, Carlton said the goal of Re: Stock is invert stereotypes of who plays board games, does homework with their kids, and lives together.

“That’s where you instill a sense of humanity in people,” she said.

The company has thrived during the pandemic and was acquired by a private-equity firm in Boston this summer.

Phone2Action Rides Tidal Waves of Civic Engagement in 2020

By Jo DeVoe

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 Shirlington Gateway. The new 2800 Shirlington recently delivered a brand-new lobby and upgraded fitness center, and is adding spec suites with bright open plans and modern finishes. Experience a prime location and enjoy being steps from Shirlington Village. 

A global pandemic, nationwide social-justice campaigns and a contentious presidential election: 2020 threw three curveballs at Rosslyn-based startup Phone2Action.

“What a year, right?”

That is Jeb Ory, the founder of Phone2Action, which offers software that promotes civic engagement through mobile phones. Last week he announced that his company is acquiring fellow startup GovPredict, following 10 months of user engagement levels that his staff have never seen before.

“We have had far and away record usage of our software this year,” he said.

Ory called the acquisition of GovPredict a “natural fit” and a “game changer.”

Founded in 2015, GovPredict builds software for nonprofits, lobbying firms, campaigns and corporations. Acquiring the startup will help both companies stay ahead of trends in digital advocacy, he said.

“It became so clear that if we were to combine forces, we would be able to solve challenging problems for our clients, to help them do their jobs better, to have better policy campaigns and make better decisions,” he said.

Unlike Phone2Action, which Ory said had a very active office culture until the shutdown orders, GovPredict has a 100% remote workforce, with many staff in the D.C. area. The 1500 Wilson Blvd office will remain Phone2Action’s headquarters as it continues offering its hybrid home-office work plan to its 160 employees. The company grew by 60 with the acquisition.

Phone2Action’s software proved to be what associations, nonprofits and organizations needed to inform and “activate” people from a distance during the COVID-19 relief efforts this spring, the social-justice initiatives this summer and the election campaigns this fall.

During the week leading up to the passage of the CARES Act, Phone2Action saw 1.5 million people advocate for policies, most of them new to their clients.

When restaurants closed, the National Restaurant Association rallied industry members to share their stories with lawmakers, he said. Another client, the American Nurses Association, changed the conversation around what personal protective equipment is and how to make sure hospitals have them.

“We saw massive engagement because regular people understood how serious this is,” Ory said. “Whatever the role, they wanted to pitch in.”

Phone2Action saw another wave of engagement after the police killing of George Floyd. During the summer of social-justice campaigns and protests, nonprofits saw spikes in online and offline engagement.

This fall, more than 10 million people visited Phone2Action’s customizable “Get Out the Vote” centers. One client, Headcount, ran celebrity-promoted voter registration drives that saw hundreds of thousands of new voters register.

“It’s been exciting and humbling to be a part of,” Ory said. “These issues are life-and-death for so many people.”

The pandemic has also changed Phone2Action’s work culture for the better, he said. With some employees fully remote before the pandemic, and others in the office full-time, the company has had a chance to evaluate what each worker needs to succeed, without priority being given to those who happened to be in the office.

“I think it’s important to acknowledge how fortunate we are to” be able to work remotely, he said.

Photo courtesy Phone2Action

Rosslyn Tech Company LiveSafe Acquired

By Jo DeVoe

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 Shirlington Gateway. The new 2800 Shirlington recently delivered a brand-new lobby and upgraded fitness center. Experience a prime location and enjoy being steps from Shirlington Village. Spec suites with bright open plans and modern finishes are under construction and will deliver soon!

(Updated on 10/13/20) Rosslyn-based tech company LiveSafe has been purchased by Tampa-based Vector Solutions.

Founded in 2012, the company focused on campus security, as one co-founder survived the Virginia Tech mass shooting. Over the years, it gained footholds in other sectors and got an extra boost in 2018, when it received $11 million in new venture funding.

Today, the app and dashboard help businesses, schools and governments respond to anything ranging from harassment to a COVID-19 outbreak.

The acquisition will take LiveSafe to new heights and expand the company’s reach to new clients, said LiveSafe co-founder Shayan Pahlevani.

“You can’t be happier as a founder or LiveSafe team member see something you worked on for so many  years make it to the next level,” he said.

From its ground-floor office at 1400 Key Blvd, LiveSafe serves more than 400 customers including Hearst, Cox Communications, Brookfield Properties and the Crystal City-based Consumer Technology Association.

“It’s great that they see value in what we created,” Pahlevani said. “They have a number of incredible solutions in their deck, and to have access to their incredible customers is a huge testament to what we built.”

Many of the details are still being finalized, including whether LiveSafe will keep its office. Pahlevani said he could not disclose the cost of the sale, citing a non-disclosure agreement.

Vector Solutions and LiveSafe first partnered in 2019 to bring customized safety and security tools to higher education and K-12 markets.

Vector Solutions CEO Marc Schiepe said in a statement that the acquisition builds on a “longstanding and trusted relationship with LiveSafe and brings dynamic safety and security capabilities into the Vector Solutions product portfolio.”

Pahlevani said Vector became one of LiveSafe’s customers and was “very impressed with our team and the product.”

One product came online this year, inspired by the coronavirus pandemic’s effect on return-to-work plans. LiveSafe launched WorkSafe to help organizations detect potential COVID-19 infections, prevent outbreaks and reduce legal liability, while keeping employee health information private.

The acquisition comes as Vector Solutions — which bills itself as the “leading provider of software solutions for learning, operational readiness, workforce management” — rebrands its platforms to include the Vector name. LiveSafe will take on a new name, but Vector pledges to deliver the same experience.

Bringing LiveSafe into the fold “fits perfectly with Vector’s mission to serve everyday heroes by delivering intelligent software solutions that empower them to make safer, smarter, better decisions,” Schiepe said in his statement.

As for Pahlevani, he said the acquisition will afford him time to focus on Hungry, the buzzy Ballston-based startup he founded that connects businesses to local caterers for lunches and events.

“I get to focus 100 percent on Hungry,” he said.

This article has been updated to remove sensitive staffing information covered by a non-disclosure agreement. 

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Boat Catches Fire Near Gravelly Point — “Update boat fire Gravelly Point. Vessel is well involved. #DCsBravest Fireboats in active attack on burning vessel. The 11 occupants are being transported to Fire/Police pier for evaluation.” [Twitter, Twitter]

Flags at Half Staff in Va., U.S. — “Per an order from @GovernorVA, the Virginia flag is to be lowered to half staff at all federal, state and local government facilities across Virginia in memory of U.S Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday. Flags are to remain lowered until burial.” [Twitter, White House]

AMC Shirlington Temporarily Closed — The AMC Shirlington 7 theater appears to have suddenly, temporarily closed over the weekend. AMC’s website shows no planned showtimes at the theater. The reason for the closure was not given. The theater reopened on Aug. 27 at a reduced capacity after closing at the beginning of the pandemic. [Twitter]

Beyer Still Pushing for Rosslyn Boathouse — “The seemingly interminable planning process for a new boathouse facility in Rosslyn already has outlasted one of its champions in Congress, and while U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-8th) is not planning on departing any time soon, one wonders if it might outlast him, too. Not if Beyer has anything to say about it. ‘It’s moving very slowly, but it will be done,’ Beyer vowed.” [InsideNova]

Local Startup’s Return to Office Normalcy — “Phone2Action’s first step toward that elusive new normalcy appears to be going as planned. That’s the latest word from Jeb Ory, CEO and founder of the advocacy platform, who said those employee volunteers the company selected to be the first workers back into Phone2Action’s headquarters at 1500 Wilson Blvd. seem to adapting well to the workplace changes.” [Washington Business Journal]

County Board Approves New Bonds — From last week: “The Board [voted] to authorize the sale of up to $172.32 million in General Obligation Public Improvement Bonds for new projects and the refunding of existing bonds to lower interest rates and save taxpayer money.” [Arlington County]

Arrest Made in Eden Center Nightclub Homicide — “City of Falls Church Police identified Geovanny Alexander Mejia Castro as the homicide victim in the September 11, 2020 shooting at the Diva Lounge (6763 Wilson Blvd.). Mr. Castro, a security guard at the nightclub, died from multiple gunshot wounds.” [City of Falls Church]

Arlington Company Secures $21 Million for Fish Skin Research on a Larger Scale

By Vernon Miles

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. Monday Properties is proudly featuring Shirlington Gateway. Say hello to the new 2800 Shirlington, which recently delivered a brand-new lobby and upgraded fitness center. Experience a prime location and enjoy being steps from Shirlington Village, a large retail hub with a variety of unique restaurants and shopping options. Spec suites with bright open plans and modern finishes are under construction and will deliver soon!

Joint Arlington-Icelandic regenerative-medicine biologics company Kerecis has reeled in a new batch of funding.

The company, which has its operational headquarters in Courthouse, is focused on a technology that might sound to some like Spider-Man villain origin in the making.

Kerecis uses “fish skin and fatty acids for tissue protection and regeneration.” The fish skin can be used to treat wounds, burns and other tissue damage.

The company’s leadership said in a press release that the technology’s eager adoption in the United States was one of the leading sources of growth over the last year. Though the product might sound fishy, Kerecis said in a press release there’s no risk of viral-disease transfer from Atlantic cod to human.

Kerecis said all of the fish it flays for human use are wild and caught off the coast of Iceland.

“The fish skin needs only mild processing for medical use and maintains its natural structure and elements, including Omega 3 fatty acids,” the company said. “The Kerecis fatty-acid-based products protect the body against bacterial and viral infections.”

The company announced that the funding is based on $15 million in credit from Silicon Valley Bank to fund the company’s capital needs, with investors and lenders providing $6 million in loans to finance expanding the company’s expansion plans in the United States.

Research into adapting fish skin as treatment for burns and other skin-damage has been promising, with some experimental treatment being done in Brazil.

“The main reason that we were once again named Iceland’s fastest growing company is the rapid adoption of our medical fish skin in the U.S. market,” said G. Fertram Sigurjonsson, founder and CEO of Kerecis. “We are excited that our products are preventing amputations and reducing human suffering.”

Sigurjonsson said the funding will go to accelerating development and marketing of products for wounds, burns and other medical needs, especially in the United States.

Photo via Kerecis/Facebook

Local Startup Streamlining Cloud-Based Services Scores $4 Million in Investment

By Vernon Miles

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, StartupMonday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. Monday Properties is proudly featuring Shirlington Gateway. Say hello to the new 2800 Shirlington, which recently delivered a brand-new lobby and upgraded fitness center. Experience a prime location and enjoy being steps from Shirlington Village, a large retail hub with a variety of unique restaurants and shopping options. Spec suites with bright open plans and modern finishes are under construction and will deliver soon!

Arlington startup Stacklet, started by a pair of locals who met while working Capital One, has raised $4 million in seed investment.

Stacklet helps administrators manage various aspects of their cloud network systems, like security, cost optimization, and regulatory compliance. It’s a service that could become increasingly vital as more businesses consider making pandemic-era work-from-home policies permanent.

The funding came from investor Lee Fixel’s fund Addition and Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Foundation Capital, according to a press release.

Rather than addressing various cloud accounts individually, Stacklet allows users to manage thousands of accounts. The service also offers analytics on to show things like the trends and anomalies in cloud usage.

The project is built around Cloud Custodian, an open-source project created by Kapil Thangavelu — Stacklet’s Chief Technology Officer — and used by companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Capital One, the company said in a press release. Thangavelu created Cloud Custodian while at Tysons-based Capital One.

“Organizations struggle with how to balance their productivity desires with governance requirements,” CEO Travis Stanfield said in a statement. “Striking the right governance posture and keeping that posture up with the intense pace of innovation requires community, open source and crowdsourcing. Stacklet empowers organizations to automate cloud governance via advanced product features with commercial support. This results in self-service to cloud technologies which are properly aligned with an organization’s governance posture.”

In announcing its funding round earlier this month, Stacklet said the startup was emerging from stealth mode — an early period of developing a service before revealing it to the public.

In public filings, the company’s address is listed as a post office box in Clarendon.

Photo via Stacklet

Arlington Firms Make Inc. 5,000 Fastest-Growing U.S. Companies List 

By Joseph Ramos

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, StartupMonday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. Monday Properties is proudly featuring Shirlington Gateway. Say hello to the new 2800 Shirlington, which recently delivered a brand-new lobby and upgraded fitness center. Experience a prime location and enjoy being steps from Shirlington Village, a large retail hub with a variety of unique restaurants and shopping options. Spec suites with bright open plans and modern finishes are under construction and will deliver soon!

There were 31 Arlington-based companies included in Inc. Magazine’s annual list of America’s 5,000 fastest-growing private companies.

In all, 204 Northern Virginia companies made the list. According to Inc., these companies saw a median 3-year growth of 162%, generated $12 billion in total revenue and added 16,118 jobs.

The highest ranked Arlington company was Royce Geospatial Consultants, a geospatial intelligence government contractor based out of Clarendon.

“Our experts leverage the harvesting and combination of a variety of datasets,” the company says on its website, “to include emerging open and dark web data with foundational geospatial data to provide true value added Intelligence and GIS data resources used for deeper analysis.”

Other Arlington companies on the list include transportation and defense contractor Objective Area Solutions, biometric identification company Secure Planet Inc., medical data and records contractor Capitol Bridge.

“We are a growing, Arlington-based company that exclusively focuses on public sector aviation programs and we have developed a reputation for being able to quickly respond to our client’s dynamic environment,” said J.J. Stakem, CEO of Objective Area Solutions. “The complexity of these aviation programs in areas such as drones, cybersecurity, environmental programs, surveillance, and many other areas requires consulting companies to have a highly specialized understanding of the technical, organizational, operational, and policy considerations.  OAS uniquely fills that need for our clients.”

Stakem said the company has worked to support the Department of Defense, the Federal Aviation Administration, and NASA.

“Moving forward we will be continuing our work to provide holistic support to public sector aviation programs,” Stakem said. “Over the next 12 months we are focused on growing our engineering support capabilities as a component of our overall solution and we are also expanding our client base to include a wider range of aviation clients within the US Government as well as state, local, and international public sector aviation domain.”

Courthouse startup DivvyCloud also made the list at number 471 with 970% growth. The company said in a press release that its recent acquisition by cybersecurity company Rapid7 meant it was the last year the company would be eligible for the list.

“My co-founder, Chris DeRamus, and I are honored to be included on this prestigious list and ranked among the most innovative and forward thinking companies shaping our nation today,” said Brian Johnson, co-founder and senior vice president of DivvyCloud. “This announcement further validates that we are fulfilling our mission to help enterprises accelerate innovation without loss of control.”

The following list includes the Arlington companies, their ranking on the Inc. list, and their 3-year growth rate.

Photo courtesy DivvyCloud. Vernon Miles contributed to this story.

Arlington Cybersecurity Startup Gets Funding Boost

By Vernon Miles

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, StartupMonday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. Monday Properties is proudly featuring Shirlington Gateway. Say hello to the new 2800 Shirlington, which recently delivered a brand-new lobby and upgraded fitness center. Experience a prime location and enjoy being steps from Shirlington Village, a large retail hub with a variety of unique restaurants and shopping options. Spec suites with bright open plans and modern finishes are under construction and will deliver soon!

Ballston startup HyperQube recently announced a new batch of funding that will help boost its growth efforts.

The startup specializes in taking a company’s digital infrastructure, cloning it, then throwing every hack and virus imaginable at the clone to see what gets through. Once those weaknesses are found, HyperQube helps companies review, document, and fix their code to be more secure.

HyperQube raised $2.5 million in seed funding, primarily from Leawood Venture Capital, a fairly small Kansas-based investment group that also recently financed Sorcero, a language intelligence startup based out of D.C.

Craig Stevenson, HyperQube’s founder and CEO, said that more companies moving towards working from home as a result of the pandemic will result in an increased necessity to maintain safe and stable online infrastructure.

“With the growing remote workforce necessitating a rush to the cloud, HyperQube is poised to accelerate and manage that process while simultaneously reducing costs and enhancing security,” Stevenson said in a press release.

Beyond cybersecurity, HyperQube’s cloned structures allow companies to test and alter code on their websites safely to see what the results look like without compromising their main website.

The press release said HyperQube plans to use the funding to expand the sales, marketing, and engineering teams.

Photo via HyperCube

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