DC Money Moves: A Bethesda wellness support startup closes $1.4M round

Despite a quieter first quarter, investments and grants are still flowing throughout the DMV. In this Money Moves column, we highlighted a mix of fundraising news, small business grant opportunities and awards, from the Maryland suburbs to Northern Virginia.

Keep Company raises $1.4M

The Bethesda-based 2024 RealLIST Startup Keep Company recently closed a $1.4 million round, helping it raise $2 million to date. The company partners with employers and organizations to support employees who are parents and caregivers as they navigate the workforce and raising a family.

Keep Company also announced Zvi Band, a local founder and entrepreneur, as its new CTO. In tandem with the funding raise and the hire, the firm is releasing three new products. One of the tools, named Care Census, anonymously tracks the number of parents employed at a given company.

The round was supported by firms including Techstars, Idea Fund Partners, VEST Her Ventures, 100KM, Pixel Perfect Ventures and TEDCO.

VEST Her Ventures’ founder and general partner Erika Lucas said in an announcement that Keep Company’s focus, as well as the vision of cofounders Adrienne Prentice and Claudia Naim-Burt, fit the investment firm’s own priorities.

“We invest in women-led companies building the trillion-dollar infrastructure needed to support the future of work, women’s labor participation and economic mobility,” said Lucas. “The social-emotional skills and support Keep Company provides play a crucial role in retaining top-performing talent at the height of their careers.”

Prince George’s County seeks small business grant applicants

As Purple and Blue Line construction continues in the region, the Greater Washington Community Foundation is offering grants for small businesses dealing with disruptions due to the construction projects and the ongoing effects of the pandemic.

The foundation will award up to $20,000 to as many as 20 small businesses in the county. The money can be used for tech upgrades and operational costs.

Eligible businesses need to operate within certain neighborhoods, have 10 or fewer employees, make under $5 million in annual gross revenue and fulfill a few other requirements.

Applications are due May 13.

Apply here

Other DC-area raises and awards

• Google has been busy in the DMV. The tech giant recently announced a $1 billion investment to improve a pair of its data centers in Loudoun County and Prince William County, Virginia. Also, the Washington Business Journal (WBJ) reported that Google’s VC arm, Google Ventures, led a $20 million Series B for the DC company Alethea. The platform uses AI to monitor disinformation for companies and nonprofits.
• Forty small to medium-sized businesses throughout Maryland each received $22,000 to expand cybersecurity training. The recipients include a handful of companies in Prince George’s County and Montgomery County.
• The White House announced $20 billion in awards to expand clean energy projects across the US. Part of that funding supports the Clean Communities Investment Accelerator, which will create hubs that provide financing and assistance to establish “clean technology” projects in low-income communities.
• Lockheed Martin announced a steep increase in sales in the first quarter of 2024. The Bethesda-HQed defense and aerospace company anticipates nearly $70 billion in net sales this year, according to the WBJ.
• The WBJ also reported that after raising $61 million, the Arlington telecommunications startup Cape is planning to double its workforce.

State funding agency investments

• State of Maryland-founded TEDCO recently announced a couple of investments in DC-area startups:
  • AloeTherapeutics, based in Germantown, scored a $100,000 Pre-Seed Builder Fund investment.
  • TEDCO itself received $1.15 million in congressionally directed spending for its Federal Lab Leveraging Innovation to Products (FLLIP) Pilot Program. The program is meant to help entrepreneurs in the healthcare industry grow their businesses.

• The Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation also laid out a couple of investments:
  • AccessVR LLC, based in Winchester, received a $100,000 grant to carry out a case study with the George Washington University School of Nursing to learn more about simulation-based learning.
  • The University of Virginia, which operates hospitals throughout the state, earned $75,000 for cancer research.

More moves found in Securities and Exchange Commission filings

• $130 million for Rockville’s Avalo Therapeutics.
• $10 million for Bethesda’s AsclepiX Therapeutics.
• $3.7 million for McLean’s JelliSee Ophthalmics.
• $3 million for Rockville’s Immunomic Therapeutics
• $1.4 million for Bethesda’s AuthMind.
• $450,000 for Arlington’s GroupSense, Inc.

This article references investments by TEDCO, a Technical.ly client. That relationship has no impact on this report.