• NextNav, which has offices in McLean and California, raised a $70 million Series D from NEA, Columbia Capital and others. Gary Parsons (XM Radio founder) is the location-based services company’s CEO.

• Decision Lens – an Arlington-based company that helps large organizations prioritize and make decisions on capital planning, budgets and R&D – raised $6.5 million in a combined equity and debt round. The company had massive 126% YoY growth, and the funding will allow it to grow further and meet demand. $2.1 million is debt financing, while the $4.4 million raise was led by Vision Thinkers, LLC.

• Georgetown’s McDonough School and Entrepreneurship Initiative announced a partnership with the American Farm Bureau Federation to help entrepreneurs in rural areas. It’s the first national business competition focused exclusively on rural entrepreneurs. As someone from a town of 2,000 with one stoplight, I think this is fantastic.

• Bethesda’s Synapsify raised $850,000 from Standup Capital and through the Maryland Venture Fund. MVF put $145,000 into the round. Synapsify helps organizations understand and act on written content with their software using emotional intelligence.

COMMUNITY

• The mico-unit apartment project between WeWork and Vornado was approved this week, with 252 apartments planned for the “WeLive” building in Crystal City. I like a lot of what Vornado is doing in Crystal City – supporting tech as a regional catalyst – but I’m skeptical of this glorified college dorm. Pricing isn’t available yet, but with many units at 360 square ft. or less, it’s a select group of people that will find this appealing. They should look to local university entrepreneurship programs and mentoring and apprenticeship organizations to identify young people looking for this type of collaborative environment. 

• iStrategyLabs has lengthened its stride this year by growing their team, bringing on major new clients and moving offices. Ad Age acknowledged this growth on Thursday by awarding iSL a Small Agency of the Year award for the Southeast region.

• Banana Republic has created a new fashion line called “The Startup Guy.” It’s pathetic. The “startups are cool” trend has gone off the deep end with this one. Also, given the recent attention place on diversity in tech, it’s worth noting that there is no “Startup Girl” line.