Virginia is attracting billions in investment — a massive chunk of it in the data center industry. 

Real estate investment firm Digital Realty purchased equity in three data centers in the northern part of the state for $3.5 billion. Digital Realty also recently announced its acquisition of the Alexandria investment firm Columbia Capital, which heavily invests in data centers. 

In other regional money moves, Arlington Economic Development won a $3.9 million state grant to keep building its innovation district, and cyber startup Twenty announced a $100 million Series B round. 

Keep scrolling to get the details on those and other financial happenings in the DMV. 

Digital Realty captures more of Virginia’s data center market 

Publicly-traded Digital Realty, an Austin-headquartered firm focusing on data center-related investments, is purchasing a stake from Blackstone-affiliated funds in two data centers in Manassas and one in a larger campus in Sterling. Blackstone is a firm specializing in long-term private market investments across real estate, private equity, infrastructure and hedge fund solutions.

All three are relatively large data centers, with power draws of up to 96 megawatts at any one time. That’s not near the massive hyperscale structures currently being built to serve the AI boom — which can draw many gigawatts of power — but on the higher end of what used to be considered standard

Digital Realty agreed to 80% interest in two data centers in Manassas and a 50% interest for the one in Sterling. The deal is $1.2 billion in cash and $2.3 billion in shares of Digital Realty. 

Blackstone and Digital Realty already have joint ventures regarding data centers in the US and globally.

“The demand for digital infrastructure is even stronger today than when we established this joint venture in 2023,” said Blackstone digital infrastructure global heads Mike Forman and Greg Blank in a press release. “We have deep conviction in the opportunity ahead.” 

The firm also acquired the Alexandria digital infrastructure and tech services investor Columbia Capital for $485 million, mostly through issuing common stock. 

$3.9 million for an innovation district 

After debuting a new innovation district focused on national competitiveness earlier this year, Arlington Economic Development won $3.9 million in Growth and Opportunity for Virginia funding. 

That public funds are part of a Virginia grant program intended to boost workforce development and economic development. 

Arlington will use the money to boost its innovation district through expanding startup accelerator programs, creating a lab to build new tech and developing workforce training related to national security.  

“GO Virginia investments like this help ensure that Arlington remains competitive in fast-growing industries and continues to create opportunities for residents and businesses alike,” Arlington Economic Development business investment director Brandon Bedford said in a press release. “By strengthening our innovation ecosystem, we are positioning Arlington to lead in the technologies that will define the future economy.”

The City of Alexandria is also involved in the innovation district, along with major tech companies like Amazon, Virginia Tech and business improvement districts. 

Cyber startup raises $138 million in two years 

Twenty’s $100 million Series B round brings the young company’s valuation to $1 billion. 

The Arlington startup is building autonomous systems for the US military and intelligence agencies to combat cyber attacks and threats. Humans are in the loop and control deployment of the tech, per a press release. 

The round was led by Accel, which has invested in a range of tech companies including Facebook and Slack. Friends & Family Capital, Point72 Ventures and Caffeinated Capital also participated, bringing Twenty’s total funding to $138 million.

Funding from this round will be used for research and engineering. 

“As a country, we need to invest more into cyber capabilities to protect our national security. We have under invested over an extended period,” said Accel partner Jonathan Turner. “Investing into the best cyber capabilities will create one of the strongest and most cost effective deterrents we can build.

 Other DC raises and awards 

  • Defense contractor Tyto Athene won a US Air Force $51 million contract to improve the military branch’s voice communications systems. 
  • DC’s metro system is spending nearly $40 million to upgrade its fare collection machines, the Washington Business Journal reported. The tech dates back to the 1970s. 
  • GDIT, a Falls Church defense contractor, was awarded $71 million to deploy autonomous surveillance towers along the US-Mexico border. The contract has the potential to be increased to $115 million. 
  • DC-based Shifters, which specializes in building AI-native robotic systems, raised $10.2 million in seed funding. 
  • Agentic AI startup Trase reported a $107 million raise to continue building its product that helps organizations in highly-regulated industries to deploy the tech. 
  • Quartermaster in Arlington raised a $43 million Series A funding round, TechCrunch reported. The startup is creating “SmartMasts” that relay real-time maritime data to ships. 
  • Booz Allen Hamilton is acquiring the defense contractor Ultra I&C Mission Solutions, which focuses on data security and encryption, for $720 million.