Where Are They Now?
The DC sweat fest we lovingly call summer is about to start. It’s a great opportunity to check in with some of the companies and organizations we wrote about exactly a year ago. (Spoiler alert: They’re all doing well.)
Since starting his newest venture a year ago, DC entrepreneur Joel Selzer has scooped up some big clients. ArcheMedX’s continuing medical education software lets educators drag and drop content into a learning platform. The Charlottesville, Va.-based company recently launched the University of Virginia Health System’s newest educational program focused on fetal cardiology. The startup is also powering multiple education programs for Elsevier, the largest healthcare publisher, and is running the first accredited eight-week virtual course for seven state chapters of the American Academy of Family Physicians. The company, which raised a seed round last year from Amplifier Ventures, CIT, and angels, also just announced the launch of a new distribution network with six of the major continuing medical education websites across the country.
TEDCO, which provides funding and resources to Maryland-based entrepreneurs, has been focused on a Veterans Opportunity Fund created under a private partnership. The $35M to $40M fund will invest in veteran-owned businesses nationwide and profits will go back toward economic development in Maryland. TEDCO executive director Rob Rosenbaum says there hasn’t been any seed funding targeting veteran-owned businesses. The fund has one investment ready to close and 35 companies in the pipeline. The organization also received $1M from the state for its cyber seed fund and $500k for TEDCO's rural fund, which goes toward tech companies based in the rural parts of the state.
Apollo Matrix, a DC-based app developer, drew buzz this week at ModevUX, a conference in McLean, Va. CEO Pete Johnson says Apollo Matrix was part of the big release of Tobii Glasses 2—which he's wearing—which give a sense of where users look when using mobile apps. Apollo Matrix is a development partner with Tobii, whose North American HQ is in Falls Church, Va. Pete says the app shop is also using Tobii’s eye tracking technology to test all of its apps. The 11-person company is also working on second screen apps for companies like Comcast and Comscore.
Urgent.ly raised $525k in seed money this year and has seen its user count double in the last month. The startup went from connecting consumers with service providers like plumbers to providing mobile, on-demand roadside assistance through an Uber-like Web app. Cofounder Chris Spanos says the company was able to acquire a network of 12,000 towing companies across North America and used its existing mobile app to transition to roadside assistance, initially in the DC region. Chris, who sold his startup, SeniorChecked, to N.E.W., says the team is expanding to other markets (none that can be mentioned yet) and releasing a native app later this summer.
