Business News from the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority – September 27 – TysonsToday

Capital Area Food Bank celebrates newly expanded facility in Fairfax County

The Capital Area Food Bank (CAFB) hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony on September 26 to formally unveil a larger, modernized distribution facility in the Lorton area of Fairfax County. The expanded distribution center will enable the food bank to better address the rising rates of hunger across the Greater Washington region.

Speakers at the event included Congressman Gerry Connolly (VA-11); Chairman Jeffrey C. McKay, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors; Bill Conway, Bedford Falls Foundation; Dr. Anne M. Kress, President, Northern Virginia Community College; Rahsaan Bernard, Board Chair, Capital Area Food Bank; and Radha Muthiah, President and CEO, Capital Area Food Bank. NBC News4 Anchor Jummy Olabanji served as the MC.

The new 43,000 square-foot distribution center builds upon the presence that the food bank has had in Northern Virginia for the last 35 years. The facility is roughly 3.5 times larger than the previous building, which was torn down last year to rebuild on the same site. The added size and upgraded technology now allow CAFB to distribute more than twice the amount of food in Northern Virginia, including more fresh produce and frozen protein. The expansion also provides more space for CAFB’s partner nonprofits, and enables the food bank to offer volunteering opportunities in Northern Virginia for the first time.    

The new facility is named the Bedford Falls Foundation Northern Virginia Distribution Center, in recognition of a leadership gift given to the building fund from the foundation of longtime CAFB supporter Bill Conway.

“This new, expanded facility comes at a critical time, when hunger is on the rise in Northern Virginia and across our region,” said Radha Muthiah, president and CEO of the Capital Area Food Bank. “This larger distribution center will make a profound difference in ensuring that thousands of Northern Virginians can access nutritious food. We’re grateful for the support of those who made this larger distribution center possible, enabling us to serve our neighbors effectively both today and into the future.” 

The Lorton facility is critical to the food bank’s work in Northern Virginia and beyond. Built in 1982 and acquired by CAFB in 1998, the original 12,000 square-foot warehouse was never retrofitted to meet the growing demand even before impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the aging warehouse to its extreme limits. Since the pandemic’s peak, the need for food assistance has remained high, and according to the food bank’s latest Hunger Report, has grown during the last year, when food insecurity rates in Northern Virginia ranged from 23 percent of the population in Arlington to 43 percent in Prince William County. Fairfax County’s food insecurity rate is 27 percent.

The new facility enables the food bank to better meet that elevated need in the years to come. The larger and more flexible space increases efficiency both at the new location and at CAFB’s D.C. location, as the new Virginia warehouse now has the capacity to directly receive food deliveries. Due to its enhanced cooler size, the building also allows the food bank to purchase more food from local farmers and producers. And the new distribution center allows for more opportunities to engage with members of the community due to the addition of a volunteer center and space for CAFB partner organizations to meet.

The distribution center in Lorton is one of two CAFB warehouses that support food distribution in the region, along with the 123,000-square-foot main facility in Northeast D.C. 

About the Capital Area Food Bank:

The Capital Area Food Bank works to address hunger today and create brighter futures tomorrow for more than a million people across the region experiencing food insecurity. As the anchor in the area’s hunger relief infrastructure, the food bank provided nearly 61 million meals to people in need last year by supplying food to hundreds of nonprofit organizations, including Martha’s Table, SOME – So Others Might Eat, DC Central Kitchen, Food for Others, Manna, and others. It also works in partnership with organizations across the region to address hunger’s root causes by pairing food with critical services such as education, health care, and job training. To learn more, visit www.capitalareafoodbank.org.

Virginia ranks No. 8 in U.S. for VC investment

Virginia ranked No. 8 in the nation for venture capital investment in 2023, marking the state’s highest rating so far and its first time back in the top 10 in the past 15 years, according to an announcement Thursday by Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp. (VIPC), Virginia Business reported.

Virginia recorded $2.484 billion in venture capital deal value in 2023, placing it in eighth place in the nation, just ahead of Illinois, which had $2.397 billion. Topping the list is California, with $79.2 billion, followed by New York, Massachusetts, Texas, Colorado, Florida and Washington, according to VIPC’s calculations based on National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) data.

In the NVCA’s yearbook, released in May, Virginia is listed as having 235 companies that received VC funding last year, or 1.81 percent of the nation’s businesses that received venture capital investments. Read more in Virginia Business.

Building a strong career-ready pipeline

George Mason University is Virginia’s leading university for value and upward mobility, and ranked in the top 25 nationally for innovation according to U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges 2025. George Mason also achieved a new distinction from U.S. News, as a top 20 school nationally and No. 1 in Virginia for internships, reflecting its commitment to developing the talent needed for today’s dynamic workforce demands. Additionally, the university ranks as a top 50 public university nationally in the Wall Street Journal’s Best Colleges in the U.S. “As Virginia’s largest and most diverse public university, George Mason is a leader in advancing Virginia as a top state in business and education,” said George Mason President Gregory Washington. “George Mason serves families by providing flexibility and affordability of educational excellence and serves the Commonwealth by driving innovation for economic development. Most of our graduates stay in Virginia and around the Washington, D.C. region, building a strong career-ready pipeline critical to regional and state prosperity.” Click here to read more.

Strategic investment

Tysons-based Veteran Ventures Capital (VVC), a venture capital firm dedicated to investing in dual-use national security technology businesses led by veteran entrepreneurs and leaders, announced a strategic investment in Agile Space Industries (Agile), an innovator of in-space chemical propulsion technologies. The investment marks the first capital deployment from Veteran Ventures Capital’s second Fund. “Agile Space Industries exemplifies the innovative spirit and advanced technical capability that Veteran Ventures Capital seeks in its portfolio companies,” said Derren Burrell, Founder and Managing Partner of Veteran Ventures Capital.

Shovels down

The Defense Intelligence Agency has broken ground for the $185 million DIA Headquarters Annex at the Intelligence Community Campus-Fort Belvoir North Area in Springfield, according to ExecutiveGov. Expected to open in 2028, the DIA annex is adjacent to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s headquarters and also near the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s offices. Lt. Gen. Jeff Kruse, DIA director, emphasized the advantages of joining the NGA and DTRA at the Fort Belvoir campus. He said the new facility’s proximity to key mission partners will help DIA to support broader U.S. government goals. The DIA annex project calls for the construction of a building with nearly 119,000 square feet of space and over 172,000 square feet of covered parking. Tysons-based Clark Construction Group was awarded the project in June.

And they are off! 

Falls Church area based Inova Health System will officially start construction at the end of the month on two hospitals, one in the Franconia-Springfield area  and the other on Alexandria’s former Landmark Mall campus. The system has scheduled back-to-back groundbreaking ceremonies for Sept. 30, Washington Business Journal reported in subscriber content. “Simultaneously breaking ground on two major projects of this scale is a strong testament to Inova’s mission and our unwavering dedication to delivering a consistent, high-quality experience for our patients, team members, and visitors alike,” according to an Inova statement. The organization is targeting late 2028 deliveries for both hospitals, part of a $2.5 billion expansion.

Another pillar

Fairfax-based 3Pillar, a provider of application strategy, design and engineering services, said it plans to build a new innovation hub in India, aimed at expanding its presence at the intersection of product engineering and cognitive computing. Pankaj Chawla, the company’s chief innovation officer, will relocate to India to lead the organization, which will be based in Noida. Chawla said he plans to work extensively with the company’s teams in India and Eastern Europe. Potomac Tech Wire has more.

Fly me to the moon

Reston-based Leidos has joined the Lunar Dawn team, led by Colorado-based Lunar Outpost, according to Yahoo News. The two companies will collaborate to develop a Moon rover as part of NASA’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services (LTVS) contract, alongside General Motors (GM), The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and MDA Space. Leidos brings to the team a focus on practices to protect the health and safety of the crew, reduce human error and enable the crew to operate the system in an effective and efficient manner. Leidos will also be sharing their expertise in supporting mission assurance, systems engineering, operations and integration planning. Leidos has been supporting deep space exploration and human spaceflight for over 50 years, working closely with NASA.

View from above

Herndon-based BlackSky Technology announced “a seven-figure” contract Sept. 19 from Australian startup HEO to provide imagery of space objects for defense, intelligence and commercial use, reported SpaceNews. Through the agreement, BlackSky, a firm known for rapid and automated Earth-observation, will join HEO’s non-Earth imaging sensor network. “Leveraging the power of real-time dynamic monitoring in the space domain unlocks additional value from BlackSky’s high-resolution constellation,” BlackSky CEO Brian O’Toole said in a statement. “Space situational awareness is critically important for our customers as the space domain continues to become a highly contested operational environment. Automatically tasking and receiving NEI products reflects yet another pioneering innovation that gives customers reliable and actionable space-based intelligence about spacecraft or on-orbit objects of interest at mission speed.”

Promising partnership

Reston-based Intelligent Waves (IW) announced a strategic partnership with Reston-based SpiderOak, reported Intelligence Community News.  The strategic partnership will address the Department of Defense’s critical operational need to communicate securely through a ground-breaking decentralized communication network that remains functional even when traditional ground and space infrastructure is compromised or denied. “As global cyber threats rapidly evolve, the need for secure, resilient communication channels has never been more critical. Partnering with Intelligent Waves allows SpiderOak to leverage its deep understanding of the DoD’s mission-critical needs, enabling us to deliver a cutting-edge, decentralized communication solution that can withstand even the most hostile and remote edge computing environments,” said Dave Pearah, CEO of SpiderOak. “Together, we’re setting a new standard for cybersecurity in contested spaces, ensuring that the DoD remains connected and informed, no matter the sophistication of the cyber threat.”

To the max! 

Maxar Intelligence, a division of Maxar Technologies, which is based in Colorado and has offices in Chantilly and Herndon, opened a new London office this week as the headquarters for its international government business as it aims to increase its global presence, reported Via Satellite. Maxar is expanding its global presence by establishing local leadership in more than half a dozen new markets, and continuing to build out its regional Asia-Pacific hub in Singapore.

Another round

Tysons-based RunSafe Security announced the successful completion of a $12 million Series B financing round. The investment round led by Critical Ventures and SineWave Venture Partners also includes BMW i Ventures, Working Lab Capital, Lockheed Martin Ventures, HyperLink Ventures, Iron Gate Ventures, Alsop Louie Partners, and NextGen Venture Partners. “This investment round will enable us to accelerate the rollout of our innovative solution to prevent attacks targeting both known and unknown vulnerabilities across critical infrastructure even when a patch is not available and without the need to rewrite a single line of code,” said RunSafe CEO, Joe Saunders. Technical.ly has more.

Everybody cut footloose! 

The Washington West Film Festival will be returning to Fairfax County next month for its 13th year. “Footloose” star Kevin Bacon is set to visit the county both virtually and in-person as part of the philanthropic festival, which announced a varied lineup of movies this week that will screen from Oct. 10-13 at Look Dine-In Cinemas in Reston (11940 Market Street) and Tysons (1667 Silver Hill Drive). Washington West Film Festival founder and president Brad Russell said he’s most excited about working with Kevin Bacon’s Fairfax County-based nonprofit SixDegrees.org. As the festival’s charity partner, SixDegrees.org will receive 100 percent of the festival’s box office proceeds and use them to fund hygiene and essential supply backpacks for Virginia’s Kids Belong, a Richmond-based foster care and adoption nonprofit. Tickets for all films are now on sale. The full schedule, which can be found on the festival’s website.

About the Fairfax County
Economic Development Authority

The Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) promotes Fairfax County, Virginia, as a business and technology center. The FCEDA offers site location and business development assistance, and connections with county and state government agencies, to help companies locate and expand in Fairfax County.

Want to know more about the services of the FCEDA, or how economic development helps Fairfax County? Visit the FCEDA website or e-mail  info@fceda.org.

Related