Story Highlights
What's This?
- Clearspeed and Virtualitics opened D.C.-area offices to access federal decision makers.
- Clearspeed has raised $110 million and partnered with Carahsoft in May 2025.
- Virtualitics has raised $73 million in funding.
Two more out-of-state government contractors have set up shop in Greater Washington, joining a wave of tech companies expanding locally to be nearer to decision makers at federal agencies.
San Diego-based Clearspeed, which provides its AI-powered voice analysis tool for defense, banking, and insurance industries, opened a 5,000-square-foot in Chevy Chase office on July 1, the company said Monday.
And Virtualitics, a Pasadena, California, company that provides AI solutions for defense and government operations, has signed a lease for 3,000 square feet in Reston Station, Comstock Holding Companies Inc., Reston Station's owner, announced Friday.
The two companies join a growing cadre of tech firms securing office space around D.C. as the federal government, especially the Pentagon, continues to ramp up partnerships with emerging startups and tech firms.
Their expansion here also comes as the federal government is boosting its investments in in AI technologies.
“DC [is] where the dialogues shaping national security are happening, decisions are being made,” Clearspeed CEO and co-founder Alex Martin said in a statement to the Business Journal. “This is the center of gravity.”
Martin, a Marine Corps. veteran and former intelligence officer, co-founded Clearspeed in 2016 and one of the startup's first contracts was with the Department of Defense’s Special Operations Command. It May 2025, Clearspeed announced a partnership with Carahsoft, a Reston-based government IT provider that ranks among the D.C. region's largest federal contractors.
The company has raised $110 million to date, including $60 million in Series D funding round that closed last year. Clearspeed has roughly 100 employees, per Tracxn.
Clearspeed’s new Chevy Chase office is located at 2 Wisconsin Circle, a 235,000-square-foot property owned by CCLC, formerly Chevy Chase Land Co. It houses 15 employees there, spokesperson Shoba Lemoine, said in an email.
Virtualitics did not respond to a request for comment on how many employees will work at its new Reston office, located at 1900 Reston Metro Plaza.
In October 2024, Virtualitics signed a five-year, $46 million contract with the U.S. Air Force to supply AI-powered maintenance and intelligence solutions for multiple weapon systems. In May of this year, Virtualitics announced a partnership with OpenAI to integrate OpenAI’s frontier models into Iris, Virtualitics' agentic AI platform for high-stakes government, defense, and supply-chain operations.
"Northern Virginia is a critical hub for the communities we serve," Kristy Friedrichs, the company's recently appointed chief operating officer, said in a statement. "Establishing our Reston office strengthens our ability to collaborate more closely with customers, recruit exceptional talent, and continue scaling the delivery of our AI readiness capabilities that support mission success."
Virtualitics, which began as a research project at Caltech, was founded in 2016 by Michael Amori, Ciro Donalek, George Djorgovski, Scott Davidoff. The company has raised more than $73 million in venture capital funding and has roughly 150 employees, according to Tracxn.
Read article here.
