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To determine how UAS could help medical professionals in their fight to stop the spread of the Coronavirus, DroneUp, UPS and its subsidiary UPS Flight Forward (UPSFF), Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), and Workhorse Group recently came together to test the technology in Lawrenceville, Virginia.  Female veteran and spouse-owned businesses and entrepreneurs will compete for a cash prize and the designation of most likely to succeed  “Women and veteran entrepreneurs are bringing key products and services to market in the Commonwealth, all while paving the way for a new generation of female leadership in a variety of industries,” said Jennifer O’Daniel, Investment Director at CIT GAP Funds. “I am grateful for the opportunity to judge the Virginia Women Veterans Summit pitch competition and look forward to exploring new ways CIT can continue to support women veterans through our Virginia Founders Fund.”
This is now a virtual event | Press Release Here Drone-assisted deliveries have often been thought of as the future, but a recent partnership between United Parcel Service (UPS), Workhorse Group, DroneUp and the Virginia Center for Innovative Technology has proven that future is now.  *DroneUp is a CIT GAP Funds Portfolio Company, and DroneUp CEO Tom Walker serves as a CIT Unmanned Systems Advisory Board Member.
Herndon, VA, April 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) recently partnered with UPS’s (NYSE:UPS) drone delivery subsidiary UPS Flight Forward (UPSFF) and drone technology companies DroneUp and Workhorse Group (NASDAQ: WKHS) in tests designed to determine how unmanned aerial systems can assist medical professionals in their fight to stop the spread of the Coronavirus.
“I am encouraged to see so many private sector partners stepping up and thinking innovatively as we work together to combat COVID-19,” said Virginia Governor Ralph Northam. “Drones can be an important way to deliver medical supplies while people stay home to adhere to our social distancing guidelines. Virginia is well-positioned to be a leader in the unmanned system industry, and we are pleased to be part of this initiative.” Press release here: http://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/04/21/2019373/0/en/VIRGINIA-CENTER-FOR-INNOVATIVE-TECHNOLOGY-CIT-UPS-DRONEUP-AND-WORKHORSE-GROUP-TEST-UNMANNED-SYSTEMS-FOR-CORONAVIRUS-RESPONSE.html  "The Stafford County Economic Development Authority has received a $75,000 grant from GO Virginia to assess the market demand for a cyber and smart tech entrepreneurship program. This investment leverages Stafford’s existing cyber and information technology business community to develop smart technologies based around the Internet of Things.
Downtown Stafford has been identified as a model Testbed for “smart city” technologies by the Virginia Center for Innovative Technologies." The CIT team recognizes the importance of startups and local ecosystems as a critical engine to grow innovation and job creation. Keeping entrepreneurship, innovation, and commercialization efforts alive in Virginia will be crucial for our eventual economic and job recovery. Continuity of all Virginia based innovation efforts happening now will be critical to help speed eventual long-term recovery in the Commonwealth | #VABiz #GoVirginia #SmartCommunities #SmartCities Article Here: https://www.insidenova.com/news/business/stafford-partners-receive-grant-for-regional-entrepreneurial-study/article_3ca9644a-7e6a-11ea-a940-8f088fe9646c.html  The Tysons-based tech company is connecting food trucks to multi-family properties to offer more dining options to residents practicing social distancing. Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) announced that its early-stage fund, CIT GAP Funds, has invested in Tysons, Virginia-based Curbside Kitchen, developer of a platform to connect food trucks with owners of commercial offices and multi-family residential buildings.
The company was founded in 2017 and last August also nabbed an investment from CIT’s Virginia Founders Fund, which supports companies with female, minority or veteran founders, or other entrepreneurs located in regions outside of Northern Virginia. Curbside Kitchen CEO Amy Katz said in a news release that the company has been able to quickly roll out mobile and text ordering in the last year with the financial support from CIT.  The CIT Smart Communities Team continues to keep the innovation machine running in Virginia. CIT leads the SCITI Labs program for DHS, driving ongoing innovation in areas of public safety, critical infrastructure and other areas of national concern. Early wildfire detection is one of those issues. While not the focus of today's most pressing issues - continuity of all Virginia based innovation efforts happening now will be critical to weathering this storm and will speed eventual long-term recovery in the Commonwealth.
https://www.breeze-technologies.de/blog/breeze-technologies-selected-by-us-department-of-homeland-security-for-wildfire-sensing-initiative/  The Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) today announced that CIT GAP Funds has invested in Tysons, Va.-based Curbside Kitchen, developer of a platform that manages and connects owners of commercial office and multi-family residential buildings with food truck vendors as way to expand amenity options. In August 2019, CIT’s Virginia Founders Fund (VFF) made an initial investment in the company to complete a full build-out of their technology and hire additional team members. This investment from CIT GAP Funds will be used to continue expanding business operations.
Press Release: http://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/04/07/2013068/0/en/CIT-GAP-Funds-Invests-in-Curbside-Kitchen-to-Continue-Connecting-Building-Owners-and-Multi-Family-Properties-with-Food-Trucks.html  The company plans use the fresh funding to expand its sales, marketing and product development efforts. CIT GAP Funds' Tom Weithman said that in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, the org remains open for business.
Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) announced that its early-stage fund, CIT GAP Funds, has invested in Vienna, Virginia-based MetiStream, developer of a platform that uses big data and machine learning to find hidden information in unstructured clinical data. https://technical.ly/dc/2020/04/03/cit-gap-funds-invests-vienna-based-metistream/  DAILY PROGRESS PHOTO/ANDREW SHURTLEFF Dr. Casey Kerrigan, founder of Oesh shoes, has developed a flexible 3D printed respirator mask that can be re-used indefinitely with different filter material. Oesh is working with neighboring company Luna to begin production and start manufacturing face masks in multiple sizes first for area EMS first responders. Once that need is met, they will move on to meeting the needs of other health care workers in the Charlottesville/Albemarle region.
 A Charlottesville shoe-making company is switching its focus from feet to the face in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Owners of OESH Shoes - (CIT CRCF Award Recipient) - are taking their expertise in 3-D printing & using them to print durable, reusable respirator face masks for emergency responders.
Story and video here: https://www.nbc29.com/2020/04/01/charlottesville-shoe-company-uses-d-printers-develop-respirator-masks-first-responders/  Summary | Virginia companies (including independent non-profits) have access to a number of emergency financial support programs.
Some are existing programs and some are new, set up specifically to address COVID-19-related economic disruption. Some are state programs, some are federal programs, and some are private programs. Eligibility for each program is different, and each program requires its own application. This brief resource guide is targeted primarily to the needs of Virginia’s high-growth startup community, but should be helpful to Virginia companies in general. It provides brief descriptions of each financial support program, and includes links to find out more. Please note that we are coordinating our efforts with Governor Northam’s office, and we encourage you to also monitor the governor’s COVID-19 resource page (https://www.virginia.gov/coronavirus-updates/).  CBInsights, a highly respected source of information on venture funding, released a report outlining possible effects the Coronavirus pandemic could have on seed-stage funding efforts. The report makes dire predictions on how the COVID-19 crisis could affect this vital source of early-stage capital.
A link to the report is here: How Covid-19 Could Impact Seed-Stage Startup Investing While projections for private capital availability show a sharp drop off, CIT has resources available, and we remain committed to maintaining an uninterrupted presence in the early stage venture market. We continue to provide critical funding to startups, entrepreneurs, and innovators. Since the beginning of Virginia’s pandemic response, we have closed five deals totaling $725K in new money to the local startup community. Additionally, the CIT GAP Funds team has a long pipeline of promising opportunities that have great potential to close in the near term. In addition to CIT GAP Fund activities, our work on strategic initiatives in areas such as smart communities and commercialization allowed us to provide $325K in funding to private companies and university innovators during this period. Finally, our Commonwealth Research and Commercialization Fund team remains on track for non-dilutive financial grant awards to the private sector and university innovators totaling over $2M in June of this year. Bottom line - CIT remains in the market. We maintain our ability to fund companies and innovators. We are here to engage with you. I am reaching out to encourage connecting on opportunities to work together during this time. Sincerely, Ed Albrigo, CEO & President Center for Innovative Technology  During Women’s History Month, celebrated each March, the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) is proud to highlight Virginia’s community of female entrepreneurs. Nearly 60 of CIT GAP Funds’ 200+ investments were founded by or include female executives. Bolstered by the Virginia Founders Fund, which increases access to capital for startups founded by women and other traditionally underserved entrepreneurial communities in the Commonwealth, CIT maintains a strong commitment to continue investing in women-led startups.
Women entrepreneurs make up a significant portion of U.S. small business owners, with the U.S. Census Bureau estimating over 12.3 million companies owned by women. According to a recent report from SmartAsset that set out to identify the top cities for women in tech, examining U.S. cities with 200,000 residents or more, two Virginia cities – Chesapeake and Arlington – were both named among the top five best cities for women in tech. The findings were based on a number of factors, including the city’s tech employment growth over the last three years, number of women in the tech workforce, and its gender pay gap. Press Release Here | http://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/03/26/2007128/0/en/CIT-Recognizes-Women-Led-Virginia-Startups-During-Women-s-History-Month.html The Best Cities for Women in Tech in 2019 | Full Article https://smartasset.com/checking-account/the-best-cities-for-women-in-tech-in-2019  “MetiStream’s mission to accelerate and simplify how clinical insights are delivered is solving a large market need for improved patient care and outcomes,” said Tom Weithman, Managing Director of CIT GAP Funds. “CIT is confident that the company’s established customer success team, combined with Ember’s strong data integration capabilities to onboard a variety of healthcare datasets from clinical to genomics with limited coding required, will be a recipe for success.”
Link to press release here: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/03/24/2005678/0/en/CIT-GAP-Funds-Invests-in-MetiStream-to-Improve-Patient-Outcomes-by-Addressing-Healthcare-Industry-s-Unstructured-Data-Problems.html  Herndon, VA, March 18, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As the global and national COVID-19 situation evolves, it is vital to communicate that the health and safety of everyone is our number one priority. Our thoughts are with those who have been most affected by this crisis. There will be significant economic effects on all businesses; the innovation, research, and entrepreneurial communities in Virginia are no exception. The nature of these effects will evolve over the coming weeks and months. However, I remain confident that the continuity of innovation efforts happening now will be critical to weathering the storm and will speed the eventual long-term recovery in the Commonwealth. With that said, I would like to make it clear that CIT is open for business.
Full content here: http://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/03/18/2002885/0/en/A-Letter-to-Virginia-s-Innovation-Research-and-Entrepreneurial-Communities-Regarding-CIT-s-COVID-19-Response.html  Congratulations to the Virginia CIT Gap Funds Portfolio Companies who made the list this year & congratulations to all | Full list found here: https://www.crunchbase.com/lists/hot-tech-companies-globally/18356751-e468-4735-b94b-c22e4a87e838/organization.companies
 Congratulations to CIT GAP Funds Portfolio Companies MarginEdge and HUNGRY named among the best Startup Employers in the US by Forbes
https://www.forbes.com/americas-best-startup-employers/#7d16b23e6527  CIT CTO Dave Ihrie | In the News | #SmartCommunities
COURTHOUSE AREA COULD BECOME ‘SMART COMMUNITY’ Stafford targeted to become Virginia's first Smart Community By James Scott Baron The Free Lance–Star: “We’re looking to build a secure facility from the ground up,” said David Ihrie, chief technology officer of the Center for Innovative Technology. “Our goal is to make Stafford a model community for all of Virginia.” Ihrie said CIT would bring a host of interested partners to Stafford to help boost economic development in the region and realize his vision. “We want to make Downtown Stafford the state’s first standalone smart community,” Ihrie said.  Building an entrepreneurial ecosystem is a long process involving a complex array of factors. In "Business Attraction and Start-Up Investment: Flip Sides of the Economic Development Coin," I argue for accelerating ecosystem maturation through a unified approach to conventional economic development and start-up company support.
 Chuck Kirby, vice president of broadband for the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), said last month at a community broadband forum that the county must dig deeper to determine the types of needs that exist in Smyth County. He urged people to complete the survey saying, it is “a chance to have your voice heard.” He called the survey data the foundation of the county’s needs assessment, which will be used in part to seek grants and form partnerships to improve broadband access.
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Updated 8/3/20