o DC-based Wrapped Health Raises $2.1 Million in Pre-Seed Funding
o Veteran Ventures Leads Seed Round in SC-based Robotics Firm
o TEDCO Invests $500,000 in Baltimore-based Space Phoenix Systems
o Sondera Named Winner of 2026 DataTribe Challenge
o Herndon-based Aventra Defense Raises $17.5 Million
o Enabled Intelligence Expands HQ in Falls Church
o Briefly Noted: Groove Commerce, TEDCO, Siemens Government Technologies
DC-based Wrapped Health Raises $2.1 Million in Pre-Seed Funding
Washington, D.C. – Wrapped Health, a D.C.-based digital healthcare startup, announced that it has raised $2.1 million in pre-seed funding in a round co-led by Lightbank and Arteria Capital. The company helps healthcare providers link their patients with over-the-counter treatments.
“Patients can buy almost anything with one click, except the products their doctor tells them they need,” said Max Russell-Harris, co-founder and CEO. “Healthcare has built digital systems for prescriptions, labs, and imaging, but there’s still a huge gap when it comes to everyday health products. We’re building that missing connection.”
Veteran Ventures Leads Seed Round in SC-based Robotics Firm
McLean, Va. – Veteran Ventures Capital, the McLean-based early-stage venture firm, announced that it led the $6.9 million seed round in South Carolina-based Aformic, a robotics company. Other investors in the round included ff Venture Capital, Red Beard Ventures, Mana Ventures, and others. “We believe Physical AI will transform American manufacturing, and Aformic has what it takes to lead that shift: proven robots, proprietary software, and deep industrial expertise,” said Derren Burrell, founder and managing partner at Veteran Ventures Capital. “With VVC helping open doors across the defense industrial base, Aformic will be a category leader.”
TEDCO Invests $500,000 in Baltimore-based Space Phoenix Systems
Baltimore – TEDCO, Maryland’s state technology economic development agency, announced that it has made a $500,000 investment in Baltimore-based Space Phoenix Systems, a space logistics company developing reusable spacecraft. The company is developing technology to transport and return payloads from low Earth orbit. Space Phoenix Systems was co-founded by CEO Andrew Parlock and chief revenue officer Kendra Rice Parlock.
“Space Phoenix Systems is working to address a technical challenge associated with testing, transporting and returning payloads from space,” said Katherine Hill Ritchie, senior director of TEDCO’s Venture Funds. “This investment reflects the Venture Funds’ focus on early-stage Maryland companies developing technologies with market potential.”
Sondera Named Winner of 2026 DataTribe Challenge
Washington, D.C. – DataTribe, the cybersecurity and AI investor and incubator, has named Sondera as the winner of the ninth annual DataTribe Challenge. The Philadelphia-based company builds assurance software for AI agents. “As agents become more capable, it’s essential to prove what they can’t do so enterprises can deploy them with confidence in higher-risk, higher-ROI activities,” said Josh Devon, co-founder & CEO at Sondera.
Herndon-based Aventra Defense Raises $17.5 Million
Herndon, Va. – Aventra Defense Systems, a Herndon-based defense technology company, raised $17.5 million in a strategic round led by Konvoy. Lavrock Ventures, a previous investor, participated along with Booz Allen Ventures, Sands Capital, Langford Industries, and Western Alliance Bank. The company develops balloon-deployed autonomous payload systems used by the U.S. Army.
“By using high-altitude balloons and stratospheric air currents to carry mass downrange without burning fuel, our approach delivers effects at greater distances, from higher altitudes, and at a fraction of the cost of conventional standoff munitions,” said Michael Weigand, co-founder and CEO of Aventra Defense Systems. “We are leveraging physics to reshape economics and put cost-effective tools in the hands of the warfighter.”
Enabled Intelligence Expands HQ in Falls Church
Falls Church, Va. – Enabled Intelligence, an AI defense tech company, announced an expansion of its Falls Church headquarters and said its workforce has grown to 150 employees over the past year. The company said the new headquarters expands its footprint to 30,000 square feet.
Briefly Noted
(Baltimore) Groove Commerce, the Baltimore-based ecommerce company founded in 2007, has renamed itself as The B2B eCommerce Agency. “B2B eCommerce is fundamentally different from B2C. Manufacturers and distributors need systems that reflect how their customers actually buy, how pricing works, and how internal operations run,” said founder and CEO Ethan Giffin. “Our new name says exactly what we do.”
(Columbia, Md.) TEDCO announced nine awardees from the third round of its Equitech Growth Fund. The winners were awarded a total of $4.3 million to help Maryland citizens enter high-tech careers. The awardees are listed here.
(Arlington, Va.) Siemens Government Technologies, based in Arlington, announced that Honishka Adish has been named its vice president of National Security Solutions. Adish previously worked at Peraton, Huntington Ingalls Industries Mission Technologies Corporation, and Booz Allen Hamilton.