DC kicks off 2025 with $1.3B in VC investment, but early-stage startups struggle to raise

Technical.ly

25-04-2025

The DMV started the year out with a venture capital bang despite federal policy and funding chaos at the White House.
Companies accrued $1.3 billion in venture capital funding across 59 deals, according to the latest Venture Monitor report released quarterly by PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association.
That's down from the previous quarter, which saw $2.5 billion in funding across 60 deals. The Q1 2025 investment total is higher than a year ago — Q1 2024 saw $797 million raised — but it happened across 30% more deals, meaning this time last year there were more deals of a lesser dollar value.
The biggest raise in the region this quarter was by Rockville nuclear power company X Energy, at $682 million. About $500 million of X Energy's raise was originally reported last quarter, per Pitchbook senior PR specialist Amy Warmenhoven, but after additional funds came in, the close date was moved to Q1 2025.
The Q1 flurry of activity is a good sign to Casey Williams, partner at the fintech-focused venture firm Fenway Summer in DC.
'It means that VCs are doubling down on companies in their existing portfolio,' Williams told Technical.ly, 'or are excited to write bigger checks.'
There was a lot of optimism going into 2025 in part due to the Trump administration's deregulatory aspirations and ties to venture capital, she said. But that was before anyone knew there would be so much volatility initiated at the federal level.
'The only thing that we can say with certainty is that the future is very uncertain, especially when you talk about DC,' Williams told Technical.ly, 'and the way that policy and politics is going to continue to impact the venture ecosystem.'
Matt Gittleman, investment director for JHH VC, said 30% of his investments were in companies based between DC and Charlottesville in the last two years. While he agrees the high Q1 total is a positive sign, he's seeing investors move to a 'wait and see' mindset.
He believes dual-use technology will continue to see investment, but it depends on the government agency associated with the innovation. More defense companies with offices elsewhere establish a presence in the DMV to finesse more deals, he predicts.
'They're all going to have to come and spend time here in this market to be successful in the long run,' Gittleman told Technical.ly.
DC is in line with trends nationally, both Gittleman and Williams observed. AI has been a focal point of investment, per Williams, and that will only continue to grow. Investments in AI were 71% of the capital flow in the first quarter, per the Venture Monitor report, including OpenAI's $40 billion round.
Williams also acknowledged that it's a tough time to raise for startups.
'It's going to continue to be a difficult journey for founders trying to fundraise,' Williams explained, 'but I do think that there is still capital out there for the best companies that are building in the spaces with the most opportunity.'
Early-stage startups are struggling to raise in DC
Eri O'Diah, the founder of the legal technology startup SIID Technologies, has met with more than 100 investors since October 2023 without a deal in sight.
She's stuck, she explained — her customer base is public defenders, and with federal funding freezes and cuts, it's difficult to do business in the public sector. Without that, she can't prove enough revenue traction to appease investors.
Because of the lack of business, she can't hire a team, which she's also been asked about by investors. She's working on pivoting her business to be in the private legal justice space and healthcare industry, O'Diah said, to establish more certainty.
'I feel like the traditional venture model is incredibly flawed, which clearly is why we see there's an explicit bias when it comes to their decision making, right?' O'Diah told Technical.ly. 'Gender diversity alone is lacking.'
Women only made up 9% of recipients of venture funds with deal amounts of just 2.5% compared to their male counterparts in 2024.
O'Diah, a Black woman, has also seen the standards for men raising venture capital be different.
'If you look at the trend for traditional investors, they typically don't invest in folks like me,' she said.
Relationships are a key indicator of success
Cofounder Dumi Mabhena of the podcast technology startup Shanda noted the murkiness in what investors want. He's met with a few investors through his Georgetown MBA network where he graduated from in 2024, but has decided to go the angel investing route.
He's seen people with no product raise money, and he's in the early stage of revenue with a developed product struggling to get funds.
'It's been a bit dumbfounding,' Mabhena said.
He credits the struggle to a lack of a network. Mabhena immigrated to the US from Zimbabwe three years ago, and doesn't have the same people he can turn to for investment or advice compared to someone who's been in the region for more than a decade, he explained.
'If you're an immigrant, off the bat you have a limited exposure to networks and building relationships over time,' he said.
But building these networks is a key part of securing investments, JHH VC's Gittleman noted, and he expects it to remain important for the foreseeable future.
'That relationship that you develop and those milestones that you set … in stone,' Gittleman said. 'There's no change in that.'