Two Local Startups Receive Millions in New Funding

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is now open. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.

A pair of Arlington County-based startups recently received injections of new cash as they continue to grow.

Crystal City software company ChurnZero and Rosslyn-based cybersecurity firm DivvyCloud both received several million dollars apiece from investors.

ChurnZero uses software to help subscription businesses understand how customers use their product, and fight against churn, when a customer decides to not use that product any longer. The company offers analytics, personalized and automated customer interfaces, and timely alerts about customers including those who are regular “power users” and those who are disengaged.

ChurnZero received $2.5 million from four investors: Grotech Ventures, Middeland Capital, Center for Innovative Technology and Charlottesville Angel Network.

“With business models moving to subscriptions, companies need to work every day to make sure their customers are engaged, happy, successful and, consequently, renewed,” You Mon Tsang, co-founder and CEO of ChurnZero, said in a statement. “We started ChurnZero because we saw way too many businesses that manage their customers without deep data or insight on the health and management level of their customers. That is simply not acceptable anymore.”

In an email, Tsang said the extra money will help ChurnZero continue to grow, having started with two founders in 2015 and already expanded to a staff of 15.

“We will invest in all parts of the business, including Product, Development, QA, Sales and Marketing,” Tsang said.  “We have big goals for the company. The investment will help ChurnZero grow into one of the major global players in the burgeoning customer success sector. We also aspire to be the next great D.C. [Software as a Service] company.”

DivvyCloud looks to make cloud servers safer by finding security problems and fixing them. It simplifies and automates cloud security for customers, who use programmed “Bots” to fix common cloud problems in real time.

It received $6 million in new funding, led by venture capital firm RTP Ventures.

“Cloud computing is a dynamic and fast-changing space and this new funding enables us to expand our reach in serving the needs of enterprises large and small struggling to manage their cloud infrastructures,” said Brian Johnson, CEO of DivvyCloud, in a statement. “With RTP Ventures’ deep experience in the SaaS space, their expertise will be invaluable as we take DivvyCloud to the next level.”

With the new investment, DivvyCloud will expand its sales and marketing operations and accelerate development of its software and services. Already, it serves the likes of General Electric, Discovery Communications and Fannie Mae, among others.

“For two years, DivvyCloud’s automation platform has been a foundational component of our enterprise cloud adoption strategy,” said Dave Duvall, Senior Vice President of Infrastructure at Discovery Communications, in a statement. “DivvyCloud helps to ensure our fast-growing cloud footprint remains secure and cost optimized while helping to integrate cloud into our existing IT operations. The speed at which DivvyCloud innovates and introduces new capabilities helps us stay ahead of problems.”