Department of Economic Initiatives (DEI)

CONTACT INFORMATION: Our office is open 8:30AM-4:30PM M-F
703-324-5171 TTY 711
12015 Route 50, Suite 510
Fairfax, VA 22033
Rebecca Moudry
Director

Department Resources

Fairfax Founders Fund Awardees

The Fairfax County Department of Economic Initiatives (DEI) has selected 13 companies to be part of it competitive grant program. The awardees were chosen because of the potential of their innovative technology solutions and demonstrated business growth opportunities.

The FFF is a grant and technical assistance program that provides critical early-stage funding of up to $50,000 to high-growth startups based in Fairfax County. Detailed information on each is below.

Cohort #3 Spring 2026:

  1. Aravena
  2. Bacchus Therapeutics 
  3. CyberMirage, Inc. 
  4. Career Gateway, Inc.
  5. Zeracorp, Inc. 

Cohorts #1 & #2: 

  1. 3D Orthobiologic Solutions (3DOS)
  2. Anapact / The Smart Headgear
  3. BloomCatch
  4. Healp (fka Riley App)
  5. KAPPA AgTech LLC
  6. Karambit.AI Inc.
  7. Magna Labs Inc.
  8. NanoNiFe LLC
  9. NearStar Fusion
  10. NIOSolutions Inc
  11. PLURIBUS Inc.
  12. Saltenna LLC
  13. ZipID, Inc.
     


 

https://3dorthobio.com/ 
Location: Herndon, VA
Founder(s)/Leadership: Dr. Prakash Kolli, PhD – CEO/Co-Founder; Dr. Ben Holmes, PhD – Technical Advisor, Co-Founder

3DOS, a pioneering medical technology company, is developing innovative 3D-printed medical devices and dental implants. With a team of experts in engineering and biomaterials, 3DOS is revolutionizing oral and maxillofacial surgery. Leveraging a Stanford University patent and backed by Johnson & Johnson's JLABS accelerator program, the company is poised to make a significant impact in the healthcare industry. The company plans to use grant funds to accelerate the commercialization of its products, focusing on material acquisition, manufacturing, quality control, and clinical trials.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/impact-sensors-for-boxers-and-mma-fighters#/ 
Location: Alexandria, VA
Founder(s)/Leadership: Rojay Chase, CEO – IT engineer

Anapact, a sports technology company, is revolutionizing the world of combat sports with its groundbreaking "Smart Headgear." Designed to enhance performance, safety, and training, the headgear incorporates advanced impact sensors that provide real-time data on strikes, defense, and overall performance. Founded by a former competitive fighter, Anapact is committed to bringing data-driven insights to the sport. With grant funds, Anapact will focus on refining its mobile app, upgrading the headgear's hardware, expanding its market reach through sales and marketing initiatives, and securing intellectual property protection.
 

https://www.aravenda.com/
Location: Fairfax, VA
Founder/Leadership: Carolyn Thompson, CEO: 

Aravenda is the only mobile-enabled SaaS platform serving the resale, consignment, and inventory management market. The resale segment is growing nearly ten times faster than traditional retail, and the technology needs in this space continue to evolve rapidly. By leveraging AI, Aravenda significantly improves user adoption through faster, more efficient item input and management. Founded in 2018, the company was originally designed to support thrift shops, resellers, estate sales, luxury consignors. They will use funding to integrate directly with eBay, expanding market access and accelerating growth.

www.bacchus-therapeutics.com
Location: Falls Church, VA
Founder/CEO: Arvin Gouw, CEO

Bacchus Therapeutics is a biotechnology startup developing innovative cancer therapies that target unique metabolic vulnerabilities in cancer cells. The company focuses on cancers driven by the MYC oncogene, which is frequently overexpressed in many aggressive tumor types. Bacchus’s intellectual property originated from research at Stanford University School of Medicine, where its approach was developed to exploit the dependence of aggressive cancers on altered lipid metabolism for growth and survival. Building on this foundation, Bacchus is advancing proprietary small-molecule drug candidates and complementary metabolic tools designed to selectively starve cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue, with promising preclinical results supporting its therapeutic strategy.

www.careergateway.io 
Location: Tysons, VA
Founder/ CEO: HanhLinh Ho, CEO

Career Gateway is an AI-powered workforce development and learning platform founded in 2022. The platform delivers intelligent training and onboarding by transforming fragmented internal knowledge—such as SOPs, videos, and institutional know-how—into structured, interactive micro-learning journeys tailored for employees, customers, and partners. By automating content creation and delivery, Career Gateway reduces training time and costs while improving performance, retention, and time to productivity. The platform supports reskilling at scale and is applicable across industries including manufacturing, SaaS, and construction.

Based on customer feedback, Career Gateway will use the funds to enhance core platform capabilities, including AI-driven content generation and Learner AI Assistants, expanded communication integrations, payment processing, and deeper integrations with HR platforms.
 

https://cybermirage.tech/
Location: Vienna, VA
Founder/ CEO: Mingkui Wei, CEO

 CyberMirage is a cybersecurity technology company specializing in bot defense and web content protection. The company helps creators and businesses safeguard online images, documents, and other digital assets from unauthorized copying, large-scale scraping, and automated bot access—without degrading the user experience. CyberMirage’s proprietary technology provides layered defenses against content theft, including protections against copy-paste actions and screenshots. The company’s intellectual property was developed at George Mason University.

The funds will be used to support customer acquisition efforts, including hiring developers to complete and enhance the company’s website and enabling the founder to present and network at cybersecurity conferences.

https://www.bloomcatch.com/ 
Location: Centreville, VA
Founder(s)/Leadership: Ray Magee, CEO/Founder; Radu Grama, CTO

BloomCatch, a tech-driven solution for the gardening industry, is addressing the critical labor shortage. By providing a user-friendly app, BloomCatch offers digital access to plant care information, training employees, and delivering valuable insights to management. The app enables customers to quickly scan QR codes on plants and access detailed care instructions, saving time for both staff and customers. With a proven track record of success in 7 states and 17 garden centers, BloomCatch has demonstrated its ability to significantly reduce lost productivity. The company plans to use grant funds to enhance its app features, expand its plant database, and invest in sales and marketing efforts to reach a wider audience.
 

https://www.healp.co
Location: Fairfax Station, VA
Founder(s)/Leadership: Elizabeth Tikoyan, CEO/Founder

Healp, a patient-centric health platform, is empowering individuals with chronic and rare diseases to find answers and connect with others. Founded by a disease survivor, Healp leverages AI, crowdsourcing, and big data to create a supportive community and provide valuable insights. By bridging the gap between patients and medical professionals, Healp is transforming the way rare diseases are understood and treated. With grant funding, Healp will focus on expanding its partnerships, commercializing its survey tool, and facilitating data sharing to support medical research and improve patient outcomes.

www.kappaagtech.com
Location: Vienna, VA
Founder(s)/Leadership: Schuyler Milton, Principal, Founder

KAPPA AgTech is revolutionizing Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) by addressing the industry's most pressing challenges. With a commitment to sustainability and efficiency, KAPPA AgTech has developed cutting-edge solutions to reduce the high consumption of materials and energy in CEA. Their groundbreaking Silicone substrate replaces traditional growing media, eliminating recurring costs and operational inefficiencies. Additionally, KAPPA AgTech's patented ventilated lighting technology combines lighting and ventilation, significantly reducing power consumption by up to 50%. The company will utilize the FFF funding to accelerate the production and commercialization of these transformative technologies, paving the way for a more sustainable and profitable future for indoor farming.

www.karambit.ai
Location: Annandale, VA
Founder(s)/Leadership: Andrew Hendela, CEO

Karambit.AI is a cybersecurity company that provides automated reverse engineering and comparative AI technology to validate software integrity and eliminate hidden malware before it reaches production systems. Karambit.AI empowers organizations with peace of mind by ensuring trusted software safeguards their customers. With the help of FFF funding, the company will expand its AI-powered software supply chain risk mitigation solution into new industries.

https://www.magnalabs.co
Location: Vienna, VA
Founder(s)/Leadership: Gwenn Berry, CEO

Magna Labs is a pioneering software quality assurance (QA) company focused on empowering biomedical research. The company's innovative, no-code automation platform addresses the critical challenge of ensuring the accuracy and reliability of biomedical software in an era of rapidly expanding biological data. By providing real-time testing and bug detection, Magna Labs helps scientists accelerate development while improving the quality of biocomputing workflows that ultimately drive healthcare innovations. With the support of this grant, Magna Labs will complete beta testing, expand its customer base within the biotech industry, and solidify its market position across diverse biotech niches.

www.nanonife.com
Location: Vienna, VA
Founder(s)/Leadership: Maude Champagne, Co-Founder 

NanoNiFe is a leading provider of residential energy storage solutions designed to optimize the utilization of renewable energy sources. As the adoption of solar panels continues to surge, the demand for reliable and cost-effective battery storage systems is rapidly increasing. NanoNiFe's innovative Vanadium Redox Flow Battery (VRFB) technology offers a superior alternative to lithium-ion batteries, providing enhanced safety, environmental sustainability, longer lifespan, and lower operating costs. By leveraging the FFF funding, NanoNiFe will focus on optimizing its design and supply chain to significantly reduce production costs, making clean energy storage more accessible and affordable for homeowners across the United States.

https://niosolutions.com
Location: McLean, VA
Founder(s)/Leadership: Osborn Gomes, CEO

NIO Solutions' cutting-edge Business Intelligence platform, called Clerida, is transforming the way community banks operate. By automating the generation of comprehensive report catalogs, Clerida addresses the significant inefficiencies and missed opportunities associated with manual report generation. Clerida's unique approach consolidates data from banks' core systems. With the support of FFF funding, Clerida will deepen its integration with  leading industry platforms, refining its target market. This strategic move positions Clerida for rapid market penetration and significant customer acquisition within their targeted segment.

https://www.nearstarfusion.com
Location: Chantilly, VA 
Founder(s)/Leadership: Amit Singh, CEO; Doug Witherspoon, President/Chief Scientist; Chris Faranetta, VP/Co-Founder; Randy Roy, CFO; 

NearStar Fusion, a clean energy pioneer, is revolutionizing the global energy landscape with its innovative fusion power plant technology. Addressing the urgent need for sustainable and scalable energy solutions, NearStar Fusion is harnessing decades of experience in pulsed plasma technology to develop simple and modular fusion power plants. By utilizing advanced fusion fuels, the company aims to provide a clean and abundant energy source for the future. With grant funds, NearStar Fusion will invest in research and development, including technical evaluations, prototype development, and educational outreach. These efforts will support the company's goal of commercializing its fusion technology and driving a transition to a cleaner energy future.

McLean, VA
https://www.pluribusdata.com/ 
James Samuel, Founder, CEO

PLURIBUS Inc., a McLean, Virginia-based geospatial and geosocial tech company, specializes in developing cutting-edge personal security technologies, including the live-streaming, cloud-based mobile application ANJEL® Tech. Inspired by national events,  ANJEL Tech allows users to live stream and record, map location, send automatic notifications and offers a range of potential applications. PLURIBUS will leverage the FFF funding to expand its customer base within the Air Force and develop new applications for its innovative technology.

http://www.saltenna.com
Location: McLean, VA
Founder(s)/Leadership: Dennis Defensor, Co-Founder, Chairman

Saltenna is revolutionizing underwater communication with its groundbreaking Plasmonics technology. Unlike existing acoustic, radio frequency, and optical methods, Saltenna's Surface Electromagnetic Waves (SEW) enables reliable and high-speed wireless communication in underwater environments. This breakthrough technology has the potential to transform industries reliant on underwater operations, including commercial diving, drone technology, and naval operations. While Saltenna's current prototype is not yet suitable for divers or smaller drones, the company will utilize FFF funding to develop a miniaturized version, opening new market opportunities and accelerating the adoption of this transformative technology.
 

www.zipidapp.com
Location: Alexandria, VA
Founder(s)/Leadership: Janice Kephart, Founder, CEO

ZipIDapp, a Fairfax County C Corp Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB), is revolutionizing the I-9 process with its innovative web/mobile SaaS tool. ZipIDapp streamlines the manual, time-consuming Form I-9 completion process for employers. By automating and securing this critical task, ZipIDapp significantly reduces compliance risks and improves efficiency. ZipIDapp is poised to become the industry standard for I-9 compliance. The company plans to leverage the new FFF funding to integrate with E-Verify, expand its software capabilities, and target federal contractor customers.

https://zerapy.ai
Location: Reston, VA
Founder/CEO: Fisnik Shpuza, CEO

Overview:  Founded in 2022, Zerapy is an AI-driven digital health platform modernizing physical therapy delivery through the integration of artificial intelligence, remote therapeutic monitoring, and patient engagement tools. The company’s flagship solution leverages advanced motion analysis and machine learning to deliver personalized home exercise programs, real-time feedback on movement quality, progress tracking, and clinician dashboards. These capabilities enable physical therapists to extend care beyond the clinic, improve patient outcomes, streamline workflows, and unlock new revenue streams through Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (RTM). Zerapy is designed to integrate seamlessly with existing clinical systems, maintain HIPAA compliance, and support improved rehabilitation experiences for both patients and providers.

 Zerapy will use the funds to build on its pilot with Inova by implementing feature enhancements based on clinical feedback. Planned improvements include expanding RTM codes and exercise libraries and developing patient recovery analytics to support a full-scale launch of Zerapy across the Inova network.
 

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