Startups with public sector DNA compete at George Mason investor breakfast

A recent pitch event proved once again that an overwhelming number of startups in the DMV and Baltimore have ties to the federal government, either through contracts or being a former employee. 

Five entrepreneurs in the region on Friday got to pitch their company in front of nearly 200 people, including many investors, as part of the Accelerate Breakfast series. Companies in space technology, financial technology and veterinary medicine showed off their advancements and asked for capital. 

The quarterly event is in part put together by George Mason University (GMU), and is sponsored by several Virginia counties including Fairfax, Arlington and Prince William, plus big corporations like JPMorgan. This is a resurgence of a similar event in the region from the late 90s into the early 2000s, per Dave Harvey, the event’s executive director.

Between 2023 and 2024, capital flow was mixed across Virginia, per Paula Sorrell, the associate vice president of innovation and economic development at GMU. That makes getting founders in front of investors even more key to their success. 

According to the university’s measurements, state funding was down by 54% and federal funding was down by 62%. Venture capital was down by 32%, but angel investing was up by 10%. 

“It is even more important to do the things that we’re doing,” Sorrell told the crowd. “What we’re doing here is helping to diversify the economy, and we’re going to continue to move in that direction.”

Keep scrolling to meet the founders who pitched, including the event’s winner determined by the crowd — Baltimore veterinary medical tech firm Kubanda Cryotherapy.   

Kubanda Cryotherapy wins people’s choice

Diagnosing pets with tumors is simple, but treatment options are limited, explained cofounder and CEO Bailey Surtees. Surgeries are not always the answer, and can be pricey.

That’s where Kubanda Cryotherapy comes in, which produces cryotherapy technology to treat animals, she explained. This treatment has existed in human medicine for a handful of years — it’s the practice of using extreme cold to get rid of damaged tissue. It’s often used for pain management, arthritis and other cases. 

Instead of a scalpel, a needle is used to treat large and small masses, benign or malignant. Kubanda Cryotherapy sells “CryoNeedles” to veterinarians, and they just got their patent a few weeks ago. No anesthesia needed when using this device, which is another perk, Surtees explained. 

“Our favorite thing we hear from our pet parents is they don’t seem to know anything happened,” Surtess said to the crowd. “That’s perfect. That’s what we want.”

The team has had 20 sales to date, including with rural independently owned shops and major vets. They also plan to deploy the tech at schools to make it more well known among veterinarians.

Surtees and her team are raising a $2 million dollar seed round to help scale the product, she said. 

Tech to prevent financial crimes

FraudOptics helps financial institutions, law firms and government agencies to prevent financial crimes like laundering and fraud. It provides these clients with data insights about cryptocurrency wallets including names and other identifiable information.

Cryptocurrency usage has grown a lot over the last few years, and that means there’s more opportunity for corruption, per former FBI financial crimes unit chief and CEO Ren McEachern. 

The firm is raising $2 million to build out its team in sales and marketing, and to apply resources to find more data sources.

John Hrivnak, an investor at Red Cell Partners and on the panel at the Accelerate Breakfast, brought up that many people look to crypto for anonymity. 

“There has to be a compromise,” McEachern told investors. He believes there is legislation incoming that will restrict anonymity when it comes to cryptocurrency wallets. 

“The reality is, for the adoption, for the growth of the innovation, for all the advantages that come to a decentralized platform like cryptocurrencies,” he continued,  “you have to give up a little bit.”

Boosting security in space 

AI driven software company Scout Space in Reston is focused on building satellite sensor technology. 

Satellites in orbit have spiked over the last decade, CTO Josiah Gruber explained. It’s expected to keep increasing — an assessment by the Government Accountability Office says there may be 60,000 satellites in orbit by 2030. That would be a 10x increase from 2022, when there were 6,000. 

With this volume, there’s a lack of real-time data about satellites and debris, making scaling the space industry risky, per Gruber.

Scout Space is building sensors and software for self-driving satellites. It captures real time information about its surroundings and there are no humans in the loop, he said. 

Typically, ground sensors are used to monitor satellites. Gruber explained that’s not as accurate as having sensors on satellites itself.  

The startup closed out 2024 with $4 million in revenue, and they are starting the business by focusing on government contracts but plan to work in commercial sectors. Five missions are lined up, per Gruber, and they’ve flown tech with the sensors twice.

He and his team are raising money through a $4 million SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) round to build out its engineering team and nab more government contracts.

Delivering data from satellites faster 

Space technology seems to be a hot topic in the DMV.  

NOVI in Arlington is a space computing company developing AI-powered satellites. It focuses on delivering data collected by satellites faster to people in the field, cofounder and president Amit Mehra explained.

Satellites generate a lot of raw data, but a small fraction of that is actually useful, per Mehra. The data is also very expensive and can be dated by the time it gets to the people who need it — like GPS coordinates for a fire that’s starting or tracking missiles, he said. 

He and his team are building their own satellites in Arlington, and the staff operates the satellites themselves. SpaceX launches the technology, per Mehra. 

Mehra has been primarily working with the Department of Defense since NOVI’s founding in 2017, but he’s now branching out into commercial uses. Two satellites are expected to launch early 2026. 

NOVI is raising a seed round of $3.5 million, and plans to use those funds to deploy the commercial satellites, he outlined. 

Imaging tech for checking packages 

Tysons Corner-headquartered tech firm Spectrohm specializes in internal imaging technology.  It’s used in inspection contexts, like in packages shipped to people by a retailer or searching bags at a concert venue.

Founder and CEO Tim Cargol explained the technology isn’t like an X-ray. Low frequency radio wave tech is used, and Spectrohm already has eight patents. 

The goal is to take out the “stick search” labor at events requiring bag searches, to save time for people but also save money for companies.

It can also be used for security — Spectrohm has contracts with the Air Force and Homeland Security for scanning cargo through the SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) program. They also worked with Amazon in an innovation challenge pilot to scan returns from customers to prevent scams. 

Spectrohm is raising a $2.5 million SAFE round, and is gearing up to raise an $8-10 million Series A in 2026.