1863 Ventures restructures to expand programming for diverse founders

Entrepreneurs and the companies they lead often use the end of a year to realign priorities and plan for the future.

DMV entrepreneurs did just that to wrap up 2024, with several organizations shifting business models, hiring and merging. 

For example, a DC investment firm is changing its structure to reach more founders through an entrepreneurial curriculum. In addition, a local startup was acquired by a government contracting software company, and a recently launched tech incubator appointed its first executive director. 

Keep reading to get the details on those and more Power Moves in the DC region. 

Equity-focused VC firm changes business model — and name

1863 Ventures will now be known as New Majority Ventures — a fiscally sponsored, charitable organization. 

The firm, which turns 10 in 2025, focuses on investing capital in and scaling businesses founded by Black, Latino, and other historically underestimated entrepreneurs. It also led its own accelerator, to bring $100 billion in wealth to diverse founders.       

That overarching mission will not change, per leader Melissa Bradley. The existing venture funds will remain, but New Majority Ventures will now prioritize distributing its virtual educational programming for entrepreneurs to other organizations, rather than hosting it.  

She views entrepreneurship as a “team sport.”

“We’re not going to get to $100 billion on our own,” Bradley, a two-time exited founder, told Techical.ly. “We think there’s another way … selling our curriculum to other organizations so that they can use the formula that we have used to be able to help founders grow, create jobs and generate wealth for their communities.”

That curriculum includes teaching marketing, finances, customer aggregation and fundraising, she said. The programming has been tested over the last few years and adapted based on feedback. 

“Ironically, I’m not into organization, entity-building,” Bradley said. “I’m into wealth-building for founders.”

Because New Majority Ventures doesn’t host this programming anymore, half its staff was cut, per Bradley. The headcount went from a staff of eight to four. 

The firm’s fiscal sponsor, the San Francisco-based Tides Foundation, will handle back-office operations and administrative overhead. That helps the team of four focus on running the program deployment, as well as overseeing the venture funds that are separately incorporated, she explained. 

Bradley ultimately decided to restructure to reach more people. 

Various initiatives supporting diverse founders popped up over the last decade, but the gap is still there, Bradley said. In 2023, Black founders received less than half a percentage point of all of the venture capital allocated.  

The name change is also intentional. Bradley felt it was time to capture how diverse founders — and people — are contributing to the economy. Black women are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs, for example. The new name reflects this evolution by employing a term that Bradley has previously used to describe people of color, women, LGBTQ individuals and more marginalized or otherwise underrepresented communities. 

“We are the new majority. We’re the fastest-growing segment of entrepreneurs,” she said. “It’s important that we’re using that to send a message to the world that says the role of people of color is instrumental in the economic security of the globe.”

The restructuring did not stem from any attacks against the firm’s diversity, equity, and inclusion priorities, which have increased across the US. For example, the Atlanta-based Fearless Fund’s grant program for Black women business owners shut down in 2024 after litigation. But Bradley said she’s not concerned for New Majority Ventures. 

“We’ve never been sued, never worried about that,” Bradley said. “And if we get sued, we’ve got three law firms, and we’ll be ready. But I just don’t think that makes sense.”

AI-driven proposal writing startup acquired by Unanet

DC-based GovPro AI’s government contracting technology will now be incorporated into the software company Unanet, which is headquartered in Dulles. 

GovPro drafts requests for proposals (RFPs) using artificial intelligence, with the aim of shortening the time it takes to craft proposals and save money for contractors. Founder Alexander Cohen was inspired to create the startup after writing RFPs during graduate school as a side job and saw an opportunity to automate the writing process.  

“Being part of the Unanet team means we can advance our innovation and refine the solution features,” said Cohen in an announcement. “I’m looking forward to exploring new use cases for customers and continuing to deliver a more efficient, modern way of improving business development.”

Cohen was also part of a recent pilot incubator program from DC Tech Studio, which connects startups with resources and capital in the region. 

Unanet, a project management firm primarily for government contractors, engineers and professional services companies, will deploy GovPro’s tech sometime in 2025. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

Tech incubator taps new executive director 

Station DC, which is set to open in the Union Market District during the second quarter of 2025, has a new leader. 

James Barlia recently worked at the local venture capital firm Revolution, where he specialized in highly regulated industries like healthcare, housing and defense. 

“I’ve had the privilege of knowing James since the beginning of his career, and his unwavering passion for frontier technology, tackling big challenges, and his deep connection to DC have always been a source of inspiration,” said Evan Burfield, a Station DC board member and managing partner at the tech-focused government relations firm Washington Office. “There’s truly no one better equipped to build Station DC and position Washington as the leading global hub for startups.” 

The new tech hub was announced in July, paired with a $2 million grant from the DC government to launch the space. Station DC has already hosted events and is scheduled to put on a daylong summit about the intersection of policy, tech and defense on Wednesday. 

More leadership moves: 

• College Park’s IonQ displayed its “ion trap” technology in the lobby of the New York Stock Exchange. The firm also set up its first quantum computer at its location in Switzerland, its first computer to operate outside of the US. 
• Regulatory intelligence software firm FiscalNote has a new top leader. Josh Resnik moved up from the COO position to replace founding CEO Tim Hwang, who will become the company’s executive chairman, around the new year, per the Washington Business Journal. The White House-adjacent company changed its leadership around the time the union for one of its subsidiaries, the Capitol Hill-focused trade publication CQ Roll Call, filed a labor complaint over return-to-office policies. 
• Axios HQ, based in Arlington, acquired the San Francisco think tank Mixing Board. The organization is an insight-sharing entity for communications and marketing professionals. Founder Sean Garrett will join Axios as its chief communications officer.  
• Anzu-Green Critical Technologies Fund, a $100 million defense tech fund announced in the summer of 2024, tapped two venture partners. James “Hondo” Geurts boasts extensive leadership experience in the Navy and Marine Corps, while Gen. Mike Murray served in the Army for 40 years. Murray worked as the commanding general of the US Army Futures Command in Texas before his retirement. 
• New York-based commercial real estate company Brookfield transitioned all of its energy usage in the DMV to nuclear power, BisNow reported. The company claims it’s the first commercial real estate firm to do so. 
• The cloud-focused software firm Exostar acquired Robot Morning in Cincinnati and ComplyUp in Tampa to build out its supply and demand management capacity, as well as its risk and compliance services. 
• McLean consulting firm Deep Water Point and Associates launched a new initiative to connect small tech businesses and investors to federal funding opportunities. 
• RegScale, a cybersecurity company in Tysons, hired former Google leader Devon Goforth as its chief technology officer.  
• Technology consulting firm iTech AG launched a customer service integration for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality. 
• Herndon-based government IT provider Tyto Athene appointed Anthony Crawford to lead its Army and defense agencies business unit.
• Cybersecurity company Fend Incorporated, based in Arlington, was acquired by the Tampa firm OPSWAT.
• The Tysons-headquartered innovation nonprofit NobleReach Foundation appointed Rabi Chitrakar as its new vice president of IT. 
• An executive order from Maryland Gov. Wes Moore established the new Governor’s Office of Business Advancement and Maryland Coordinated Permitting Review Council, among other initiatives designed to boost the state’s economic competitiveness.