Startups

Iron Yard to offer free coding classes for kids [Startup Roundup]

Plus: An Arlington cybersecurity startup is raising $750,000.

A photo from PHHHOTO. (Photo courtesy of PHHHOTO)

WHO’S GETTING FUNDED?

Arlington-based Syncurity is raising a $750,000 seed round, CEO and cofounder JP Bourget told Technical.ly DC. Syncurity was founded in August 2014, and was a member of the fall 2014 cohort of MACH37, a cybersecurity accelerator in Herndon, Va. The other cofounders are Ray Davidson and Mike Volo. The company helps improve the scripts and processes for security teams.
Alexandria-based Soapbox Soaps, which is like TOMS for soap, raised $1.1 million last week, according to an SEC filing.
Data management company Skai, which is based in Arlington, raised $126,000 last week out of a $806,000 round, according to an SEC filing 
McLean-based iMapData, a data mapping contractor, raised $1.5 million out of a prospective $2.5 million round on Tuesday, according to an SEC filing. A certain Dale Watson — probably not the singer — joined the company’s board.

WHO’S MAKING MOVES?

WeddingWire announced Thursday the acquisition of Wedding Planner, a company that owns several online wedding marketplaces in Europe in Latin America. Here’s the press release; more background from the Washington Post; and additional numbers at the Business Journal.
AT&T will be servicing drivers with Urgent.ly, the road assistance app based out of AOL’s Fishbowl Labs in Dulles, through its AT&T Drive platform, it announced in a press release.
Disruption Corporation announced the rollout of Disruption Community, making what looked suspiciously like a coworking space well, an official coworking space. More details on pricing here.
The Iron Yard launched a free coding class program for kids. Kids Academy is for children 7-12 and will take place on Tuesday evenings from March 17 to April 7. Sign up here.

WHO’S GETTING BUZZ?

D.C. is the best city for women in tech, according to a ranking by the personal finance website SmartAsset based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2013 American Community Survey. That’s in part because it has the highest proportion of women working in technology: 37.2 percent. That’s right: just 37.2 percent of tech jobs filled by women means D.C. deserves a cookie. Here’s more context on the report from the Post.

WHO’S GETTING HIRED?

Former Optoro HR senior director Kathy Penny joined Canvas, the Reston-based cloud computing tool for companies, as Chief People Officer (that’s a new position), the company announced last Wednesday.

Companies: Urgently / WeddingWire / Optoro / Canvas / Iron Yard

Before you go...

Please consider supporting Technical.ly to keep our independent journalism strong. Unlike most business-focused media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational support.

3 ways to support our work:
  • Contribute to the Journalism Fund. Charitable giving ensures our information remains free and accessible for residents to discover workforce programs and entrepreneurship pathways. This includes philanthropic grants and individual tax-deductible donations from readers like you.
  • Use our Preferred Partners. Our directory of vetted providers offers high-quality recommendations for services our readers need, and each referral supports our journalism.
  • Use our services. If you need entrepreneurs and tech leaders to buy your services, are seeking technologists to hire or want more professionals to know about your ecosystem, Technical.ly has the biggest and most engaged audience in the mid-Atlantic. We help companies tell their stories and answer big questions to meet and serve our community.
The journalism fund Preferred partners Our services
Engagement

Join our growing Slack community

Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!

Trending

19 tech and entrepreneurship events to check out before the holidays

DC’s year in tech: An interactive timeline for 2024

AI is being used in more and more of the hiring process, especially at high-volume companies

EDA officials are ‘hopeful’ Tech Hubs program will live on under Trump

Technically Media