The Top 30 VC Firms In Washington DC [2024]

Pat Walls

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Updated: January 20th, 2022

Washington DC is one of the best places to build a startup. According to a 2021 Report, the Washington DC startup ecosystem ranks as number 11, with an ecosystem value of $28.9 billion compared to the global average of $13.68 Billion.

While Washington DC provides an attractive startup ecosystem, most of the early-stage entrepreneurs targeting the city, do not know the local venture capitalist available to help them raise seed capital.

Are you looking for a VC firm for your Washington DC based startup?

Finding the right investment firm for your startup can be a daunting task.

There are a number of successful venture capital firms in Washington DC, and we've curated a list of the best local firms in the area. Additionally, we provide you with:

Investment size
Funding stages
Typical industries the firm works with
Well known companies the VC firm has invested in

Here's the list:

1. Revolution

Location: Washington, DC, San Francisco
Industries: Technology
Investment Range: $4Million - $8Million.
Stage: Early Stage
Companies invested in: Framebridge, Groupon, Booker Mind Body, Homesnap, BenchPrep, Busbud, Casted, Resolute AI, Paro, Bright Cellars.

Revolution brings together a group of successful founders, experienced operators, and investors who seek to share their experiences with early-stage founders and entrepreneurs.

The VC firm is keen to identify the next generation of transformative companies focusing on technology solutions, and supporting them through different investment vehicles. Revolution seeks to partner with passionate entrepreneurs upending traditional industries with innovative products and services where they believe the unique areas of specialized experts will help to create significant value.

Their typical investment is in the range of $4 to $8 million, and they often partner with top-tier investors.

Learn more about Revolution ➜

2. Accion Venture Lab

Location: Washington, DC
Industries: Fintech
Investment Range: Up to $500,000
Stage: Seed Stage
Companies invested in: Advance, Agrim, Aire Labs, Artoo, Apollo Agriculture, Aye Finance.

Accion Venture Lab provides capital funding to early-stage Fintech startups that provide innovative and scalable solutions. The firm provides financial and post-investment support, investing up to $500,000 in seed-stage companies. They continue supporting the seed stage companies as they grow, by injecting follow-on capital to drive scale.

Accion is keen on leveraging the new technologies, data, and analytical tools to acquire engage and serve the previously underserved small businesses. Ideally, they look out for innovative customer engagement models that blend technology to create a seamless user experience.

Learn more about Accion Venture Lab ➜

3. ABS Capital Partners

Location: Washington, DC, San Francisco, CA
Industries: Healthcare, Fintech, EdTech, Cyber, Human Capital Management, PropTech, Marketing & E-commerce Enablement, GovTech & Non-profit
Investment Range: $10M - $25M
Stage: Series C
Companies invested in: Accurate Group, Alula, Exos

ABS Capital has been in the investment sector for more than 30 years and has helped numerous companies across various sectors to realize their full potential.

They invest in high-growth late-stage companies that need capital to develop new products/services or seek to venture into a new market.

The firm typically invests anywhere from $10M to $25M.

Learn more about ABS Capital Partners ➜

4. DC Community Ventures

Location: Washington, DC
Industries: Consumer products, manufacturing, services, clean energy, and education-related businesses.
Investment Range: $200,000 To $750,000
Stage: Mid-to-Late Stage
Companies invested in: Neighborhood Development Company, Wellfound Foods, Catalyte, Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company, JRINK, Learn Zillion, New World Development Group.

DC Community Ventures is a social impact venture capital fund that seeks to invest in companies that deliver market-rate financial returns and to improve the communities in which they operate. The Venture Capitalist targets investments in the underserved areas focusing to promote environmental change, community development, and creating economic opportunities.

DC Community offers flexible and patient growth capital through mezzanine debt and structured equity investments with a long-term investment horizon. Their key areas of focus are consumer, education, business services, and basic industries.

Learn more about DC Community Ventures ➜

5. Updata Partners

Location: Washington, DC, Reston, VA
Industries: Software
Investment Range: $5M - $50M
Stage: Seed Stage
Companies invested in: Adthena, Altus Assessments, Bigleaf networks, Boxcast, Builtin, Datacore, FirstInsight, Glassbox.

Updata Partners invests in B2B software companies, providing an investment range of $5Million to $50Million.

The VC firm is keen to work with companies that want to venture new product development, those looking for working capital, and firms that want to ensure liquidity for founders.

Updata looks for firms that display a growth mindset, working with their management to ensure an exceptional outcome for such companies.

Learn more about Updata Partners ➜

6. Arborview

Location: Washington, DC Metro Area, East Coast, Southern US
Industries: Sector Agnostic
Investment Range: $5Million to $15 Million
Stage: Stage agnostic
Companies invested in: Alpen, Copper Cow Coffee, Envocore, Rachio, Soli Organic, Soupergirl, Temperpack.

Arborview Capital invests in high-growth companies at any stage. Their typical investments range between $5 Million and $15 Million, and they remain open to leading around, partnering, or even investing alone.

The VC firm seeks collaborative associations with teams whose values are in line with the firm's values. They are interested in founders who go the extra mile to take care of their teams and remain a steward of their natural resources.

Learn more about Arborview ➜

7. Advantage Capital Partners

Location: Washington, DC, St Louis, Missouri, Austin, Texas
Industries: manufacturing, technology and business services
Investment Range: $500K-$10M
Stage: Seed Stage
Companies invested in PayIt, Quoddy, North End Teleservices

Advantage Capital Partners is a firm focused on raising private institutional capital and investing in businesses located in St Louis that are underserved by traditional sources of risk capital. The VC firm emphasizes helping business ventures that require capital to survive and thrive and has a long history of supporting small businesses at both the start-up and expansion stages.

Since its inception, Advantage Capital has invested over $30 Billion in companies spanning a diverse array of industry sectors.

Learn more about Advantage Capital Partners ➜

8. Rethink Impact

Location: Washington, DC, New York, and San Francisco
Industries: Technology
Investment Range: $2Million-$10Million
Stage: Early and seed-stage
Companies invested in: Juntos, Aclima, Nextseed, Purpose, Univfy, Savonix, EverFI, Morty, SpringHealth, Wellthy.

Rethink Impact is a VC firm investing in female and non-binary leaders using technology to solve the world's biggest problems. The VC firm believes that the next generation of extraordinary companies will find their success through their relentless pursuit of mission, benefiting all communities.

The VC firm invests $2Million to $100Million in late seed to series C companies.

Learn more about Rethink Impact ➜

9. Quona

Location: Washington, DC, Bangalore, Cape Town, Lagos, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Jakarta.
Industries: Fintech
Investment Range: $1 million to $30 million
Stage: Seed, Series A, Series B, and growth-stage
Companies invested in: ADDI, Global66, AllLife, Big, Azimo, Coins.PH, Cowrywise, BukuWarung, Contabilizei, CreditMantri.

Quona Capital invests in Fintech startups. The VC firm targets Seed, Series A, Series B, and Growth stage companies. Their typical investment is $1Million to $30 Million, and they partner with founders who focus on building a more financially inclusive world.

Learn more about Quona ➜

10. DC Ventures

Location: Washington, D.C., Dublin, and Buenos Aires
Industries: Sector Agnostic
Investment Range: $10,000-$100,000
Stage: Early and seed-stage
Companies invested in: Peimento, Himitsu Kichi, Walden, Parra Payments, RLL Esports, Brands Of.

DC Ventures is an early-stage focused VC firm and a startup advisory firm. The VC firm offers a mix of capital, mentorship, and advisory solutions. They target entrepreneurs with the passion, drive, and focus needed to achieve success, providing access to industry experts and savvy investors to help the entrepreneurs reach their goals. DC Ventures likes to be the anchor investor or the first institutional investor. They understand the key dynamics of how relationships between the investors and entrepreneurs work, and so their portfolio startups are prepared and assisted in moving towards their next stage of growth and funding. Their investments range between $10,000 and $100,000.

Learn more about DC Ventures ➜

11. Anzu Partners

Location: Boston, MA, Washington, DC
Industries: Software, Hardware, Life Sciences, Materials, Manufacturing
Investment Range: Not disclosed
Stage: Seed Stage
Companies invested in: Ai-Media, 6K, Axsun Technologies

Anzu Partners is an investment firm that provides venture capital to early-stage companies.

The firm is primarily focused on industrial and life science tech companies with a perspective to bring effective change in the industry.

Anzu was founded in 2014 and has its offices in Boston, Tampa, San Diego, and Washington, DC.

Learn more about Anzu Partners ➜

12. Board Assets

Location: Washington, DC
Industries: Sector Agnostic
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Early Stage
Companies invested in: Votela, Insite One, Planet Rewards INC, Circles, Smart Routes Systems INC, Print On Demand Services.

Board Assets is an early-stage investment firm operating across a wide range of engagements. The VC firm is widely recognized when it comes to the deployment of corporate governance solutions. They advise startups on a wide range of matters including risk management, compensation, board recruitments among others.

Learn more about Board Assets ➜

13. Carlyle Group

Location: Washington, DC, Arlington, VA
Industries: Technology, Consumer, Media & Retail.
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Seed Stage
Companies invested in: Abacus, Abbisko, Acufocus, Adicon Holdings Limited, Acrotec, Addison Lee Group, Array, Atotech.

Carlyle is a global venture capital firm focusing on seed-stage and later-stage companies.

They operate four funding types focusing on leveraged buyouts, venture and growth capital, real estate, and leveraged finance investments.

Carlyle investment solutions seek to help founders build successful companies that meet their objectives through tailored portfolio implementation.

Learn more about Carlyle Group ➜

14. Core Capital

Location: Washington, DC
Industries: Enterprise Software
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Early Stage
Companies invested in: Radius Networks, Vizbee, Staq, Divvy Cloud, New Edge, StarDog, Aptology, Cohort.

Core Capital Partners is a VC firm focusing on the dynamic and evolving opportunities created by the long-term and disruptive trends in Information technology. The Venture capitalist seeks to expand the capabilities and of early-stage founders and expand their capabilities.

They focus on the startups that create solutions around wireless communications, expansion of IP networks, the convergence of diverse forms of information, and the continued broadband penetration.

Learn more about Core Capital ➜

15. Fenway Summer

Location: Washington, DC
Industries: Fintech
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Early Stage
Companies invested in: Advizr, Applied Data Finance, Deserve, Digital Pay, Card.Com, Circle, College AVE Student Loans.

Fenway Summer invests in advising and building new companies that focus on Fintech. Their hybrid investment and advisory form focus on innovations intersecting finance and technology and regulatory change.

They seek to bring expertise in areas such as consumer finance, capital markets, regulations, and credit.

Learn more about Fenway Summer ➜

16. Kstreet Capital

Location: Washington, DC
Industries: Business Services, E-Commerce & Retail, Energy, Financial Technology, Food & Cuisine, Government Technology, Healthcare, Mobile Technology, Real Estate, Travel & Transportation.
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Early Stage
Companies invested in: Arcadia Power, Armortext, Authentag, Bookclubz, Breaking, Babyscripts, Deepwave Digital, Eyrus, Frey, Follow Beauty.

K-Street capital invests in promising early-stage companies, providing top-class mentorship and professional guidance. The VC firm provides the guidance required by startups to scale and increase their profitability.

Upon joining the K-street capital portfolio, the members catalyze the growth process through the application of industry expertise, extensive investor networks, and mentorship.

Learn more about Kstreet Capital ➜

17. Middle Bridge Partners

Location: Washington, DC
Industries: Sector Agnostic
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Early Stage
Companies invested in: TransitScreen, Kash, Women.com, Walksource, Fixed, Contractually, Speek, ArmorText, Nvite.

Middle Bridge Partners aims at investing and building startups to make them achieve the founders' dreams. Ideally, Middle Bridge Partners has the vision for a world that is connected, and so believes in investing in new ideas for a better future.

Rather than limiting investments towards certain sectors, they look out for portfolio companies that seek to create innovative solutions and have shown exceptionally talented founders and hardworking teams with a desire to create change.

Learn more about Middle Bridge Partners ➜

18. Middleland Capital

Location: Washington, DC
Industries: Food and Health
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Early Stage
Companies invested in: AeroFarms, MycoTechnology, BensonHill, Shenandoah Growers,

Middleland Capital is a thematic venture capital firm focusing on investing in companies that deliver solutions relating to food tech and agricultural technology.

The VC firm invests holistically across the entire food value chain, with an aim of driving systematic change and ensuring positive impact.

Learn more about Middleland Capital ➜

19. Paladin Capital

Location: Washington, DC, New York, Silicon Valley, London, Luxembourg.
Industries: Sector Agnostic
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Early Stage
Companies invested in: AnomaLi, Arxan, 10XGenomics, Bug Drowd, BuldingiQ, CalypsoAI.

Paladin Capital is a leading global investor focusing on supporting and growing innovative companies. The VC firm does this through venture investment, expansion, and providing growth capital. They seek diverse investment opportunities across the globe.

Since its inception, the VC firm has invested more than $1Billion through different investment vehicles. The investment experts at paladin capital group focus on providing general business counsel and strategic direction to the business leaders and their senior management teams.

Overall, they seek to help entrepreneurs and investors maximize returns.

Learn more about Paladin Capital ➜

20. SineWave Ventures

Location: San Francisco, Washington DC.
Industries: Sector Agnostic
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Early Stage
Companies invested in: Pepsi, Visa, Intel, Mastercard, Appl;e, Capital One, Microsoft, Alphabet, Goldman Sachs, Accenture, J.P Morgan.

SineWave Ventures seeks to empower entrepreneurs to accelerate digital transformation across commercial and public sector ecosystems. Therefore, the VC firm seeks to ease the navigation of diverse and distributed data environments.

They invest in startups that use the digital ecosystem to make work and life easier, and more secure. The VC firm has a broad network of relationships enabling them to source, screen, and add value post the investment through targeted introductions that results in increased revenue for their portfolio companies.

Learn more about SineWave Ventures ➜

21. 1776 Ventures

Location: Washington, DC
Industries: Government technology, Fintech, Smart Cities, Transportation, education, health, and the energy sectors
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Seed Stage
Companies invested in: EdSurge, edBacker, EverCharge, FluentCity, HandUp, Guild, Goodworld, Final.

1776 Ventures is a Washington DC-based Seed Fund investing company focusing on entrepreneurs whose core purpose is to solve important challenges in complex markets. The VC firm aims to democratize seed funding for entrepreneurs around the globe, with the belief in cultivating private and public partnerships as well as helping the startups navigate the massive markets.

The seed-stage VC firm targets companies specializing in Government technology, Fintech, Smart Cities, Transportation, education, health, and the energy sectors.

Learn more about 1776 Ventures ➜

22. ABB Technology Ventures

Location: Washington, DC
Industries: Robotics, industrial, IoT, AI, Machine Learning, Cybersecurity, Electric Mobility, Smart Buildings, and Distributed Energy.
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Seed Stage, Late Stage
Companies invested in: UU Green, Vicarious, Vion Technologies, Stellapps, Spear Power Systems, Soft Robotics, TaKaDu.

ABB Technology Ventures targets the breakthrough technology companies aligned to the ABB Group goals of writing the future of industrial digitization.

The VC firm has invested in companies focusing on different sectors including Robotics, industrial, IoT, AI, Machine Learning, Cybersecurity, Electric Mobility, Smart Buildings, and Distributed Energy.

Ideally, they focus on companies that are at the early stage, and late stage.

Learn more about ABB Technology Ventures ➜

23. Dcode Capital

Location: Washington, DC
Industries: Technology
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Early, late, and seed-stage
Companies invested in: Atakama, Labelbox, Nucleus, Premise, Urban Footprint, Digital.ai, Droneseed, Hyas, Alation, Trifacta.

Dcode targets the private sector technology companies that provide solutions geared towards digitizing government operations. The VC firm hopes to ease the experience of private companies providing technology solutions to the government.

Therefore, they begin with an acceleration program targeting the organizations that are creating commercially viable services suitable for the government. Dcode has extensive government and tech startup experience. Therefore, they take the task of bringing new tech into government seriously.

Learn more about Dcode Capital ➜

24. Lockheed Martin Ventures

Location: Washington, DC
Industries: Autonomous systems and robotics, cyber securities, space technology, advanced communications and sensors, undersea technologies, data analytics, AI and machine learning, NextGen electronics, advanced materials and manufacturing, and energy and power systems
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Early and late-stage
Companies invested in: 3DGS, abl Space Systems, AEVA, Anello, AyarLabs, CalypsoAI, Cognitec, Cybereason, Deepsig.

Lockheed Martin Ventures focuses on making strategic investments in companies that develop innovative technologies in core businesses and new markets important to Lockheed Martin.

The VC firm focuses on emerging innovations with the potential to become foundational technologies that solve the complex challenges faced by customers.

Learn more about Lockheed Martin Ventures ➜

25. Accolade Partners

Location: Washington, DC
Industries: Sector Agnostic
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Seed Stage
Companies invested in: Folius, Foundry.ai, FootWork, HealthQuest, Kleiner Perkins, Lattice Capital, Biospring.

Accolade Partners is a top-performing venture capital firm and growth equity company. The VC firm focuses on early-stage technology and healthcare companies, helping them to raise modest size funds required to achieve company growth. They aim at helping the early-stage companies mitigate risk through a thoughtful construction and diversified fund.

Accolade has built a concentrated portfolio of hard-to-access funds across the venture capital and the growth equity landscape.

Learn more about Accolade Partners ➜

26. Aldrich Capital Partners

Location: Washington, DC
Industries: Fintech, Health-IT, and Technology-enabled services
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Seed Stage
Companies invested in: Amazon, American Traffic Solutions, BuyerZone, Cofense, Benefitfocus, American Greetings, AnchorFree, and DecisionOne.

Aldrich Capital Partners is a VC firm formed by experienced investors and successful entrepreneurs. The VC firm targets private entrepreneur-run companies, helping them attain their growth objectives through tapping into their resources and knowledge.

They invest in companies operating in the Fintech, Health-IT, and Technology-enabled services, enabling them to grow fundamentally, sound, and economically viable business models. The VC firm believes in providing startups tangible operational support and resources, as well as an extensive network of customer and partner relationships.

Learn more about Aldrich Capital Partners ➜

27. Amplifier Ventures

Location: Washington, DC, Germany
Industries: Logistics and Mobility
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: seed Stage and Series A
Companies invested in: Nautilus Labs, Mercado, Trucksters, Micropsi, Bliq, Hive.

Amplifier Ventures is an early-stage VC firm focusing on the transformation of the supply chain.

Therefore, they invest in companies that specialize in providing logistics and mobility technologies, with an aim of reshaping the old industry through addressing the historical inefficiencies and unlocking entrepreneurs' potential.

The Vc firm invests in Seed stage and series A companies, making investments in the range of $250,000 and $2.5 Million. As a specialist fund, they understand the complex and opaque industries that seek to disrupt the traditional ecosystem.

Learn more about Amplifier Ventures ➜

28. Arlington Capital Partners

Location: Washington, DC
Industries: Aerospace & Defense, Government Services & Technology, Healthcare, Business Services & Software sectors
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: seed stage
Companies invested in: AHM, BlueHalo, Cadence Aerospace, Avalign, Centauri, ChandlerMay, Compusearch.

Arlington Capital Partners is a middle-market private equity firm focusing on investing in regulated industries and their adjacent markets. The VC firm targets startups within the Aerospace & Defense, Government Services & Technology, Healthcare, Business Services & Software sectors.

Since its inception, Arlington Capital Partners has employed a growth-oriented approach when it comes to private equity. They partner with the management of portfolio companies to pursue strategic revenue enhancement initiatives and ensure operational improvements and complementary add-on acquisitions.

Learn more about Arlington Capital Partners ➜

29. Balius Partners

Location: Washington DC Metro Area, Southern US
Industries: Digital Economy
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Seed Stage

Balius Partners provides capital to mission-driven, owner-operated companies seeking a long-term relationship. The VC firm seeks to invest in the digital economy and provides funding in rounds.

Learn more about Balius Partners ➜

30. Next Billion Ventures

Location: Washington DC Metro Area, Southern US
Industries: Sector Agnostic
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Early to Growth stage
Companies invested in: Arrow, Advance, Dropezy, Capiter, EmCasa, Facio, Flat, Sprout, Trella.

Next Billion Ventures seeks to deliver outsize returns and catalyze impact in emerging markets. The VC firm has built a unique global network of like-minded technology investors and operators with an aim of accelerating the inevitable wave of startup successes.

Learn more about Next Billion Ventures ➜

Conclusion

Washington DC has one of the most educated cities in the US. According to a white paper, Washington DC ranks number 1 in the country for high-tech employment concentration.

We have highlighted the top VC firms for early-stage to late-stage startups. If you are looking to set up your business in Washington DC or looking for growth-stage funding, consider pitching either of the above Washington DC VC firms.

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meet the author

Pat Walls