Startups

In Q2, DC-area companies raised a reported $1.34B in venture funding

That's on par with last year's total for the second quarter, despite 2022's economic downturn, according to the latest Venture Monitor report.

A group of Caribou (formerly MotoRefi) team members in 2020. (Photo via MotoRefi website)

Editor’s note: These figures may vary slightly, as some deals aren’t accounted for until weeks after quarterly VC reports are published.


What’s the deal with Q2 deal flow amid that economic downturn we keep hearing about?

PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association today released their Q2 2022 Venture Monitor report, measuring the top trends and deals across the country. And in the DMV, it turns out that we’re on a pretty good streak for 2022.

In Q2, DMV companies raised $1.348 billion in venture capital, spread across 76 deals. DC founders alone made up 20 of those deals at $582.5 million raised. Maryland had $748 million across 49 deals, while Virginia founders made off with $260.7 million in 55 deals (though of course, both of those include deals from outside the DMV perimeter).

How does that compare to 2021, the strongest year for funding the DMV to date? In Q2 of 2021, District-area companies raised $1.4 billion across 87 deals, putting 2022 roughly on par with its previous counterpart.

Below, find the 10 companies reported to have taken the prize for the DMV’s top deals in Q2 2022. (Note that any discrepancies mean the totals for the quarter may change or be slightly off from the amounts actually raised.)

  1. Robotic Research, the Maryland autonomous vehicle company, raised $243 million in a Series A round. In 2021, the Clarksburg company took home the year’s largest raise with a $228 million Series A. The company did not respond to Technical.ly’s request for verification on whether this was separate from the December raise or an extension of that round.
  2. After raising $200 million in May, climate tech company Arcadia reached unicorn status with a valuation of $1.45 billion.
  3. A few weeks before that, Upside inked a $165 million deal, raising $65 million in equity and $100 million in debt financing, also landing unicorn status at a valuation of $1.5 billion.
  4. In June, Bethesda, Maryland physician tech company Aledade raised $123 million in a Series E.
  5. To cap off the three-unicorn quarter, Caribou Financial, formerly known as MotoRefi, also nabbed the status change with a $115 million Series C.
  6.  Federated Wireless, an Arlington, Virginia shared spectrum and CBRS technology provider, added another $14 million to its Series D, bringing its total funding raised to $72 million. The company first raised $58 million in February.
  7. After adding a new investor, Gaithersburg, Maryland-based biotech company Adaptive Phage Therapeutics closed its Series B round at $40.75 million in April.
  8. Professional Fighters League, a sports entertainment company based in McLean, Virginia, according to the report, raised $30 million in a Series E.
  9. Ion Storage Systems, an energy startup based in College Park, Maryland, also raised $30 million in a Series A in June.
  10. And, finally, Void Star Holdings, a tech company still in stealth mode in Vienna, Virginia, raised $30 million as well.

All this sits against the backdrop of an impending (or current) recession that has startup valuations dropping and investments down across all stages. We’ll be watching as the year progresses to see if the DMV remains relatively unaffected by market changes.

Companies: GetUpside / Robotic Research / Arcadia / National Venture Capital Association
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