DC Money Moves: Supply chain data analyzer Sayari got a $228M boost from TPG

DC fundraising isn’t slowing down after a red-hot Q4. In our first Money Moves column of 2024, we have companies closing megarounds, local government’s plan to spend more than a billion dollars on small businesses, and plenty of other VC raises and M&A moves.

Sayari is getting up to $228 million via strategic majority investment from TPG

Downtown DC’s Sayari (fka Sayari Labs) will receive a strategic majority investment worth up to $228 million from TPG, the global private equity firm focused on growth capital, the orgs announced Tuesday.

Sayari describes itself as a counterparty and supply chain risk intelligence provider. Clients include government agencies, corporations and financial institutions. The new investment comes as the company launches an artificial intelligence-assisted “supply chain illumination platform,” per a press release.

“As the global business landscape continues to evolve, companies are facing an increasingly complex set of risks and are being held accountable for the counterparties with which they partner,” TPG partner Mike Zappert said in a written statement. “Sayari sits at the intersection of these trends. Through its unique data assets built over many years, Sayari’s platform drives greater insights into emerging threats and gives organizations more power to protect the people, businesses, and nations they serve.”

CEO and cofounder Farley Mesko told Technical.ly via spokesperson that the company counts 140 full-time employees, including 40% based in the DMV. The fresh funding and partnership with TPG will “accelerate Sayari’s global expansion in 2024,” he said. Hiring is planned across departments, with a goal to reach around 200 total staffers this year.

Sayari has raised significant funding in the past, including a $40 million credit facility from Technology Banking Group in 2022 and a $40 million Series C in 2021. The nine-year-old company also regularly appears on the Inc. 5000 list recognizing the fast-growing firms across the US.

DC’s billion-dollar small business plan

DC’s political leadership announced the district plans to spend $1.23 billion to support small businesses in the 2024 fiscal year. The figure comes from the 2024 Green Book, which local gov has released since FY 2016 to catalog various procurement and support priorities related to small business enterprises, aka SBEs.

That same document charted a steady rise in DC’s SBE commitments from $1.06 billion in FY 2020 to $1.19 billion in FY 2023. These commitments are part of what Mayor Muriel Bowser described as an ongoing commitment to foster economic development in DC.

“When local businesses get a fair shot, our residents get a fair shot, too. Local businesses hire DC residents, grow DC neighborhoods, and represent DC’s values and culture,” Bowser said in a Jan. 5 announcement. “We want businesses to check out the Green Book, work with [the DC Department of Small and Local Business Development] to get their certifications, and then find and go after their fair shot.”

The FY 2024 Green Book also identified over $705.8 million in SBE opportunities across 10 industries. It listed information technology third, with $43.7 million in opportunities, after construction and facilities maintenance ($307.3 million) and healthcare ($204.1 million).

Knownwell raises $2 million pre-seed round

Haymarket, Virginia-based company Knownwell recently announced the closure of a pre-seed round worth $2 million. The Prince William County startup’s announcement said the funding will support the development of its company’s Intelligent Enterprise Operating System, an AI-enabled intelligence product that aims to help professional services companies make data-informed decisions.

“With this new funding, Knownwell is set to redefine the landscape of professional services,” CEO David DeWolf said in the announcement. “Our Intelligent Enterprise Operating System will empower organizations to look beyond their managed data and into the natural communication and information in order to draw high-leverage conclusions that drive more effective execution.”

The announcement didn’t name investors.

‘Camelot Unchained’ developer reports over-$5.5 million raise

According to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, Unchained Entertainment LLC has raised more than $5.52 million as part of an equity-only transaction. The filing lists the Fairfax, Virginia-based video game company’s previous name as City State Entertainment — the name under which the company still appears to do business, per President Mark Jacobs’ LinkedIn and a still-active website.

Company representatives did not immediately return Technical.ly’s request for details about the raise.

According to the company website and a November 2022 VentureBeat article, City State Entertainment previously raised $15 million to fund the game engine behind its multiplayer role-playing games “Camelot Unchained” and “Final Stand: Ragnarök.”

“This additional funding will allow us to continue to develop our engine, an engine that already delivers a variety of experiences not seen anywhere else in the industry from massive real-time online interactions in procedural player-built worlds to hand crafted multiplayer battles where heroes can engage armies of thousands of enemies at a time,” CTO George Davison said in a statement quoted by VentureBeat.

Other DC-area raises and awards

• PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association’s latest Venture Monitor report put vape giant JUUL’s $1.27 billion mega-deal atop the DC region’s largest VC raises of Q4 2023. Read Technical.ly Managing Editor Julie Zeglen’s report on the other top-five investments and DC’s 2023 VC landscape for more.
• Dupont Circle-area nonprofit Society for Science on Wednesday announced the 300 semifinalists in the latest Regeneron Science Talent Search, a 102-year-old STEM competition for high school seniors. The organization’s announcement said that $1.2 million will be awarded to these semifinalists, which breaks down to $2,000 for each one (described by the organization as “scholars”) and $2,000 per enrolled scholar to their schools. 40 finalists will be announced on Jan. 24, with winners announced in March.
  • Society for Science Director of Communications Aparna Paul told Technical.ly via email that 16 students from the DC metro area were among the semifinalists. Alexandria, Virginia’s Potomac School and Thomas Jefferson High School; Poolesville High School in Poolesville, Maryland; and Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland each produced multiple victors. Read the full list of scholars.
• Storyraise of Bethesda, Maryland posted a nearly $416,000 raise in an early-January SEC filing. CEO Joshua Kligman told Technical.ly the money will help the six-person company, once known as Yearly, build out its digital platforms, which various prominent nonprofits and related institutions use to create donor and impact reports.
• citybiz+ reported that McLean, Virginia-based Numeracle, whose platform helps verify phone calls, raised $6.8 million.
• According to the Washington Business Journal (WBJ), DC flower-gifting startup UrbanStems raised a $5 million Series C extension led by SWaN & Legend and DF Enterprises. The company raised this amount despite cycling through three CEOs in the past six months.
• Also from the WBJ, performance management software company PerformYard of Arlington, Virginia secured a $95 million equity investment from Updata Partners.
• Axios reported that Arlington restaurant commerce platform GoTab plans to raise an up-to-$50 million Series B this summer.

Mergers and acquisitions

• citybiz+ reported in December that Silver Spring, Maryland startup Future raised $6.5 million to acquire Boston-HQed, AI-driven rewards platform Fan Rewards. Future offers a consumer rewards program that incentivizes purchases from climate-conscious brands.
• Herndon, Virginia geospatial analytics company HawkEye 360 acquired remote control systems tech company RF Solutions from parent Maxar Intelligence, according to the WBJ.
• Tysons, Virginia meetings tech provider Cvent acquired scheduling automation-focused Jifflenow and trade show tech company iCapture for an undisclosed sum. A spokesperson declined to specify the acquisitions’ financial terms, citing the involved companies’ status as private companies.

State funding agency investments

• State of Maryland-founded TEDCO announced the following investments and agreements with DC-area firms and companies over the past month:
  • Selection of DC venture capital fund manager 100KM Ventures to manage and invest $3 million in US Department of Treasure State Small Business Credit Initiative funds
  • Selection of 24 companies throughout Maryland, including Rockville’s BeneKinetic and Conjectura, for the 2024 SBIR/STTR Proposal Lab cohort. The program aims to help startups develop proposals for up to $275,000 in federal funds via the Small Business Association’s aforementioned program.
  • $200,000 for Rockville-based, AI-enabled pediatric care company PediaMetrix
• The Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation also committed the following investments and grants:
  • $100,000 for UpBrains AI, a Reston-based customer service automation tech company
  • Unspecified equity investments in Sterling fossil fuel safety tech company Applied Impact Robotics and McLean student and intern housing marketplace 4Stay

More moves spotted in SEC filings

• $1.68 million for McLean’s JelliSee Ophthalmics
• $280,000 for DC-based Radius Networks
• $14.1 million for DC’s Base Operations
• $1.03 million for Crofton, Maryland-based Dapt Tech (one of Technical.ly’s 2023 Baltimore RealLIST Startups)
• $3.5 million for Arlington’s GenLogs
• $1 million for McLean-HQed ScreenSteps

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Technical.ly Managing Editor Julie Zeglen contributed to this report.