DC Money Moves: Following its SPAC merger and subsequent lawsuit, IronNet is looking at bankruptcy

IronNet, a McLean, Virginia cybersecurity firm, is in the midst of financial trouble, according to a recent filing.

The company said, in the document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, that it furloughed “almost all” of its employees and curtailed business operations. The filing states that IronNet has substantial doubt about its ability to continue, and unless additional funds become available, the company may need to file for bankruptcy or liquidation.

In 2021, the company went public via a SPAC merger with LGL Systems. The company has now been delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. Last year, a lawsuit was filed claiming that IronNet misled investors and made false promises about government contracts and revenue dollars.

IronNet did not respond to a request for comment on the news.

AuthMind raised $8.5 million

Bethesda, Maryland identity tech company AuthMind just raised $8.5 million in a seed round.

Ballistic Ventures led the round, with additional participation from IBM Ventures and angel investors. AuthMind, which was founded in 2020, developed an identity protection platform using a neural network that protects folks from hackers.

“The Identity infrastructure is a prime target for hackers despite continuous major investments in identity security,” said founder Shlomi Yanai in a statement. “AuthMind solves this problem by detecting in real time the gaps and weaknesses that enable such attacks, while empowering identity and security teams to remediate them quickly.”

Maryland AI nonprofit RAD-AID got $3 million from Google

Chevy Chase, Maryland nonprofit RAD-AID just nabbed multi-million support from Google for its AI technology.

RAD-AID developed an AI platform that triages patients to identify issues like breast cancer and respiratory diseases; interpret X-rays and scans; and produce test results. The nonprofit provides its platform to hospitals.

It was one of eight organizations to receive funding from Google. RAD-AID gained $3 million in technical assistance, cash and Google Cloud credits. The company was founded by Daniel Mollura, a Johns Hopkins alum.

Here’s who else is making money moves:

• FreeCap Financial, a DC data company supporting corporate accountability and transparency, is one of five finalists in Dream.Org’s Justice Innovation Prize. Three winners will be selected to receive $250,000 in October.
• George Mason University received a $1.5 million donation from local tech executive Sumeet Shrivastava to launch a training program for refugee and immigrant founders.
• Recast Capital, which has dual offices in DC and San Francisco, received $3.6 million from Pivotal Ventures. The funds will cover the expenses for Recast’s 12-week accelerator program.
• Charlottesville, Virginia’s LumaCyte, a biotech company, closed a Series B round for an undisclosed amount committed solely by London’s Malvern Panalytical.
• NearStar Fusion, which is based in Chantilly, Virginia, was awarded a Phase I SBIR grant from the National Science Foundation. The funds will help the company build out its fusion energy technology.
• India Index, a DC-based startup, raised $500,00 in pre-seed funds from individual investors. The company is building digital infrastructure for supply chain procurement from India.
• Maryland funding agency TEDCO invested $200,000 through its Seed Fund in Hyattsville, Maryland’s Ensemble Government Services. Polaris Genomics, based in Gaithersburg, received $500,000 from the organization through its Venture Fund.
• The National Cybersecurity Alliance received a $200,000 grant from Craig Newmark Philanthropies. The funds will support the Alliance’s HBCU Cybersecurity Career, Mentoring and Scholarship program.
• Fairfax, Virginia e-commerce software company Aravenda was selected for the Google for Startups Accelerator women founders cohort.

Government contracting

• Accenture Federal Services was awarded a $25 million digital prime contract to help modernize operations at the Air Force Sustainment Center.
• DMI, an end-to-end digital services company, was awarded a $26 million contract by the Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Services Army Human Resources System.
• Telos was awarded a five-year contract from the Defense Information Systems Agency. The contract is for Telos’ Automated Message Handling System, which supports the distribution and processing for both critical reports and information.

M&A Moves

• Herndon, Virginia’s ManTech acquired Arlington, Virginia’s Definitive Logic, which assists government agencies with digitalization.
• Parsons Corp, a Centreville, Virginia defense contractor, acquired Sealing Technologies, which is based in Columbia, Maryland. The deal is valued at up to $200 million.
• In its first acquisition, Chantilly’s Arcfield acquired Strategic Technology Consulting, which does both systems engineering and digital engineering.
• Bethesda cybersecurity company GrammaTech was acquired by Boston’s Battery Ventures.
• Reston space tech firm SCOUT Space acquired Free Space, a space security company. Terms of the deal were not revealed.