o Arlington-based CoStar to Acquire Vexcel for $730 Million
o Arthur Ventures Invests in Charlottesville-based Caju AI
o DC-based Made In Order Launches Beta for Congressional Offices
o DC-based Mogul Raises $15 Million at Valuation of $126 Million
o Colorado-based Auria Opening East Coast Office in Reston
o Amy Johnson Named President of GDIT
o Tysons-based Oddball Acquires Part of Synaptic Era
o Danish Counter-Drone Firm Opens Office in Reston
o Briefly Noted: Aldrich Capital Partners - TempusDirect, Strider Technologies - Vassili Patrikis
Arlington-based CoStar to Acquire Vexcel for $730 Million
Arlington, Va. – CoStar Group, the Arlington-based real estate marketplace and analytics giant, announced that it has agreed to acquire Austrian aerial imagery firm Vexcel Group for about $730 million in cash. Vexcel captures more than 60 million aerial images each year that will be integrated into CoStar offerings.
“Rapid technology advances in aerial photography and lidar are enabling Vexcel to produce extremely high-resolution images and survey-grade measurements of land, houses, office buildings, industrial properties, retail properties, apartment buildings, construction sites, and other infrastructure in the built environment,” said Andy Florance, founder and CEO of CoStar Group. “Combining these high-resolution images with the rapidly evolving capabilities of AI to semantically recognize and extract information and features from properties, we believe we can capture hundreds of data fields per property.”
Arthur Ventures Invests in Charlottesville-based Caju AI
Charlottesville, Va. – Caju AI, a Charlottesville-based startup developing enterprise technology for governing mobile and private messages, announced that it has received a strategic investment from early-stage investor Arthur Ventures. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.
“Business conversations have moved from email to WhatsApp, iMessage, SMS, and other mobile and private messaging channels. Under pressure from regulatory agencies, organizations spent years trying to capture those conversations,” the company said in a news release about the funding. “Caju was built for what comes next.”
DC-based Made In Order Launches Beta for Congressional Offices
Washington, D.C. – Made In Order (MIO), a DC-based startup founded by former congressional employees, has launched the beta version of their software to help congressional offices manage their operations. The company was founded by CEO Jeremy Marcus, a former chief of staff to Congresswoman Doris Matsui; COO Colin Raby, a congressional AI specialist; and CTO Ben Dappen, a software developer focused on health records.
“Technology has fundamentally changed how people work together in almost every industry, but Congress has largely been left behind,” said Jeremy Marcus, CEO and co-founder of Made In Order, who was most recently Chief of Staff to Congresswoman Doris Matsui. “I saw firsthand how much harder our jobs were because we didn’t have the tools to collaborate effectively. We built MIO not just to save staff time or make existing processes more efficient, but to change what’s possible.”
DC-based Mogul Raises $15.5 Million at Valuation of $126 Million
Washington, D.C. – Mogul, a DC-based AI-powered real estate investing platform, has closed on a $15.5 million Series A round led by Draper Associates, at a reported valuation of $126 million. The startup has now raised a total of $23.6 million. Mogul, founded in 2022 by former Goldman Sachs Real Estate Investment Group employees Alex Blackwood and Joey Gumataotao, aims to “give everyday investors access to carefully vetted residential real estate opportunities that have historically been reserved for institutions.”
“Real estate has long been one of America’s greatest wealth-building assets, but access to these investment strategies has largely been reserved to institutions,” said Gumataotao. “Having worked on building Goldman Sachs’ single-family rental platform from zero to $1 billion in under a year, I’ve seen firsthand what this asset class can deliver when the right technology and systems are applied.”
Colorado-based Auria Opening East Coast Office in Reston
Reston, Va. – Auria, an aerospace defense company based in Colorado, announced that it will invest $1.8 million to establish its East Coast headquarters in Reston. Auria provides space operations, satellite communications, and other technical services.
Amy Johnson Named President of GDIT
Reston, Va. – General Dynamics has named Amy Johnson the president of Reston-based General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT). She was most recently vice president and general manager for Space, Cyber and Intelligence at GDIT. “Amy has a proven track record of leading teams to solve complex and highly technical challenges for our customers,” said Phebe Novakovic, CEO of General Dynamics.
Tysons-based Oddball Acquires Part of Synaptic Era
Tysons, Va. – Oddball, a Tysons-based provider of digital services to the federal government, announced that it has acquired the Salesforce Technology and Services business of Baltimore-based Synaptic Era, a technology services company. The acquisition is the first since Falfurrias Management Partners made a strategic investment in Oddball in 2024. “Synaptic brings unique Salesforce and Agentforce credentials, strong customer outcomes, and a team that shares that commitment,” said Marybeth Wootton, chair of Oddball. “Together, we are helping customers move faster, make better use of the technology they already own, and bring new capabilities to the people who depend on government services.”
Danish Counter-Drone Firm Opens Office in Reston
Reston, Va. – MyDefence, a Danish developer of counter-drone technology, announced that it has opened a new facility in Reston to be closer to the federal government and defense agencies. The Nørresundby, Denmark-based company said the new location is part of a growing investment in the United States. The company’s electromagnetic monitoring is used for defense purposes, particularly counter-drone activities. “Reston puts us at the center of the conversations that shape how that technology gets to the warfighter, to law enforcement and to the agencies protecting critical infrastructure,” said William Ostrowski, president and CEO of MyDefence North America.
Briefly Noted
(McLean, Va.) Aldrich Capital Partners, a McLean-based private equity firm, has made an investment in Arizona-based TempusDirect, a developer of technology for the insurance industry.
(Tysons, Va.) Strider Technologies, a strategic intelligence firm with an office in Tysons, has named Vassili Patrikis as its Chief Technology & AI Officer. Patrikis is the former Chief AI & Data Officer for Microsoft’s Federal National Security Group.