Potomac Tech Wire - March 13
Bethesda-based e:cue Emerges From Stealth; Backed by Ardent Venture Partners
o Bethesda-based e:cue Emerges From Stealth; Backed by Ardent
o Arlington Capital Forms Defense Technology Company GRVTY
o Baltimore-based Porter Receives Investment From Eir Partners
o Va. Supreme Court to Hear Appian’s Bid to Reinstate $2 Billion Award
o California Teen Wins 2025 Regeneron Science Talent Search in DC
o Chantilly-Based Amentum Prices Secondary Public Offering
o Briefly Noted: ICF, Expel
Bethesda-based e:cue Emerges From Stealth; Backed by Ardent Venture Partners
Washington, DC – After a year in stealth mode, Bethesda-based e:cue, an AI-based business intelligence platform, has launched with backing from Ardent Venture Partners. The company was founded by Harsha Mokkarala, the former chief revenue officer and chief data scientist at 2U. Mokkarala also held senior positions at Capital One. Using AI-driven data science, e:cue helps companies anticipate challenges, find opportunities, and take actions.
"Businesses don’t need more dashboards; they need the ability to trust and interpret their data," said Mokkarala. "This is an expensive and slow process that hinders their ability to find growth in today’s dynamic marketplaces. We are building e:cue to move beyond reporting—our AI Agent, Cue, embeds actionable data science into the organization's existing workflows, helping leaders make informed decisions with speed and confidence."
Arlington Capital Forms Defense Technology Company GRVTY
Arlington, Va. – Arlington Capital Partners, the Bethesda-based private investment firm, said on Wednesday it has formed a new Arlington-based defense technology company called GRVTY. The company will be led by Katie Selbe, a 15-year veteran of defense technology giant Northrop Grumman who more recently served as the COO of Eqlipse Technologies and BlueHalo. GRVTY will focus on intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting (ISR&T) platforms for defense, intelligence and homeland security customers. It initially will have 325 employees in 11 states, with primary locations including Arlington, Annapolis Junction, Dulles, Chantilly, Springfield and St. Louis, and more than $100 million in revenue.
“We plan to provide significant resources to GRVTY as it grows rapidly to become the next major defense technology company,” said David Wodlinger, a managing partner at Arlington Capital Partners.
Baltimore-based Porter Receives Investment From Eir Partners
Baltimore – Porter, a Baltimore-based health IT company using AI for care coordination, announced that it has received an investment from Eir Partners. The amount of the investment was not disclosed. The company was founded by John Criswell, who previously founded Pulse8. In a news release about the investment Porter said it is “dedicated to connecting members with the resources, services, products, and education they need to live their best lives at home.”
Virginia Supreme Court to Hear Appian’s Bid to Reinstate $2 Billion Award
McLean, Va. – Appian, the McLean-based business software platform, said on Wednesday that the Supreme Court of Virginia will hear its petition seeking to reinstate a $2 billion judgement against Massachusetts-based rival Pegasystems. The case involves what Appian claims were the “wilful and malicious” misappropriation of trade secrets after the company claimed that Pegasystems employed a "spy" to analyse the inner workings of its software. The news comes eight months after the Virginia Court of Appeals reversed a 2022 award, which had been the largest damages verdict in state court history. The petition raised four different errors that Appian said were made by the appeals court.
"We look forward to being heard by the highest court in Virginia and remain hopeful the Court will reinstate the jury's verdict and corresponding damages, which were in line with the scope of wrongdoing found in this case and which we believe is the correct legal outcome," said Christopher Winters, Appian’s general counsel.
California Teen Wins 2025 Regeneron Science Talent Search in DC
Washington, DC – Matteo Paz, an 18-year-old from California, has won the top prize of $250,000 in the 2025 Regeneron Science Talent Search, the nation’s oldest science and math competition for high school seniors. The 84-year-old competition is held annually by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and the DC-based Society for Science to reward students excelling in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields. Forty finalists, including Paz, were honored Tuesday night during an award ceremony at the National Building Museum in DC. Paz designed machine-learning algorithms designed to comb through 200 billion entries of raw NEOWISE infrared full-sky data. By analyzing tiny changes in infrared radiation, the AI sorted the objects into 10 classes, and found 1.5 million new potential objects.
Chantilly-Based Amentum Prices Secondary Public Offering
Chantilly, Va. – Amentum, a Chantilly-based provider of engineering and technology services to the federal government, said it has priced a secondary offering that is expected to generate about $321.2 million for current shareholder Jacobs Engineering Group. Amentum, itself, is not selling any shares. The offering, expected to close on Thursday, priced slightly under 19.5 million shares for $16.50. Amentum currently has more than 53,000 employees in approximately 80 countries across all 7 continents.
Briefly Noted:
(Reston, Va.) Reston-based ICF, a provider of consulting and digital services, has named Caroline Angoorly to its board of directors. Angoorly is the founder and managing partner of GreenTao, which helps clients develop, operate and finance large power, fuel and low-carbon infrastructure projects. Before that, she was the COO of NY Green Bank.
(Herndon, Va.) Herndon-based Expel, developer of an AI-driven managed detection and response platform, has named Scott Fuselier as its chief revenue officer. Fuselier most recently served as the chief revenue officer of data security provider Immuta, and earlier held the same role at Menlo Security and Protectwise.