Stephen Hawking wants to be a Bond villain and is using new Intel technology to communicate incredibly fast. Guy is amazing.

Let’s keep things moving.

The Big OneIt’s already December, but let’s not call it a year yet. To look back at the local November fundings I read the Beat archives and got cozy with Edgar to summarize the month in fundings. Though it’s been a down year for investment in area companies, November was strong, led by big rounds from Vox Media (sneaking in on the last day of the month) andEndgame. Below is a list of the local November fundings including the company, amount raised, and core vertical.

  • Vox Media, $46.5M, Media
  • Endgame, $30M, Security software
  • Sweetgreen, $18.5M, Food
  • Echo360, $18M, Edtech
  • FiscalNote, $7M, Data
  • Apio Systems, $5M, Mobile apps
  • Inovex, $4M, IT
  • Snagfilms, $2.5M, Media
  • BeneVir, $2M, Biotech
  • Contactually, $2M, SaaS
  • Tahzoo, $1.1M, CX agency
  • Brazen Careerist, $870K, SaaS
  • Disruption Corp., $740K, Data/Investment mgmt.
  • Avizia, $575K, Healthcare
Making MovesUber has brought in Goldman Sachs to raise funding (separate from the reported $1B round in the works) from its high-net-worth clients. The offering is in the form of convertible debt. According to Primack, who was on top of this one, the raise could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Goldman had a similar deal with pre-IPO Facebook – could this signify a step toward an Uber IPO in ’15?

AOL acquired video content company Vidible for $50M. Vidible provides video content (you select or they curate) and monetization (syndication and ad server tech) to websites. AOL is actively trying to bulk up their video capabilities, as this acquisition follows others for PrecisionDemand (May ’14) and Adap.tv (August ’13).

Community

The final CONNECTpreneur of the year is Thursday morning. 2U CEO Chip Paucek(whose Dolphins are still in the playoff hunt after last night) is the fireside chat, followed by investors from Revolution, Crystal Tech, Complex Interests and Kinetic.

50 on Fire is Thursday night. Be there or be square.

What I’m Reading

You can read more stories on DC startups, technology and innovation at https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/inno