A county-backed fund in Arlington is seeing some return on investment as it enters its third year.
The Arlington Innovation Fund, housed under the county’s economic development arm, sponsors local events and workshops. It also granted funding to startups in early 2024: Nine firms received non-dilutive funding ranging from $25,000 to $50,000. Since then, companies have collectively raised $25 million after participating in what’s called the Catalyst Grant Program.
That’s translated to 60 full- and part-time jobs, per Michael Stiefvater, director of the business investment group at Arlington Economic Development (AED). This program lasted one year, because AED is waiting for more concrete results.
“We wanted to see how these companies will do after a couple of years,” Stiefvater told Technical.ly, “and whether they’ll generate the ROI that would be a good use of future funding.”
The second part of the program, the Ecosystem Support Fund, works with local entrepreneurial organizations to sponsor and host events in the region. That makes the fund unique from other funds for startups in nearby Fairfax and Prince William counties, he explained, which also use public funds to grant local startups cash.
AED nabbed $300,000 in the county’s latest budget cycle to continue this work, and has spent about $940,000 across the two parts of the innovation fund since its launch in 2023.
This two-pronged fund was born because of the pandemic, per Stiefvater, in an effort to “reenergize” the tech ecosystem..
Funding outside Arlington’s traditional industries
The startups funded in this program range from a fintech firm tackling credit card processing costs to a beverage test kit company that developed a product to combat drink spiking. Stiefvater found this “surprising” because of the core industries for which Northern Virginia is best known.
“I think people think of us as cybersecurity, defense, national security,” he said, “but really we saw a wide spectrum.”
Forty-five startups applied for the grant, and 75% of those who received funding feature a founder from a background underrepresented in entrepreneurship, per Stiefvater.
Out of the selected firms, one startup ceased operations after getting the grant, but other companies are securing investments.
GenLogs Corporation, a startup specializing in optimizing freight supply chain technology, went on to raise $20 million in funding after getting the grant from AED. Another company, whose name Stiefvater did not immediately provide, will soon close a $4 million seed round in the early fall.
“We have a couple really strong success stories,” Stiefvater explained. “There’s a few behind them that are doing well, just haven’t reached that peak quite yet.”
Looking forward, AED may pursue additional funding in the next year or two, but there are no concrete plans, he said.
Working on programming to reach across the DMV
AED is working with organizations like Citrine Angels, Unstuck Labs and Springboard to inform and provide resources for entrepreneurs — and not just in Arlington-specific groups.
That includes working on 100 events like workshops, training and networking gatherings. For example, AED collaborated with DC Startup and Tech Week in 2024 to host a full day of programming at National Landing in Arlington, and that’ll happen again this year at Amazon HQ2.
Stiefvater emphasized the goal of the fund is to roll out opportunities in the entire region.
“Arlington is one piece of the DMV, and we didn’t want to just work in a silo,” Stiefvater said. “We really wanted to partner with folks outside of our borders. If that meant increased activity in the region, that’s going to be good for us in the long run.”
