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Reston, VA (PRWEB) October 17, 2014
Since its launch seven months ago, Refraction Reston, a 10,000 square foot co-working space in Reston Town Center, has doubled the number of its occupants and member companies – demonstrating strong interest among entrepreneurs and startups from Northern Virginia’s technology, nonprofit and creative communities. Refraction now has more than 100 occupants and 21 member companies collaborating and innovating in the unique co-working space.
Refraction Reston was launched by Canvas, a venture-backed, Reston, Va.-based leader in mobile apps for businesses, and co-founded by James Quigley, Canvas CEO and co-founder, and Rachael Stott, co-founder of The Dandelion Support Network. Canvas, which moved its headquarters into Refraction as the anchor tenant when the space launched, has grown its employee base by 25 percent since the beginning of the year.
“Our goal from the start was to create a collaborative environment for entrepreneurs and startups past ideation stage and looking to scale their business, and the response from the Northern Virginia tech, nonprofit and creative communities speaks very loudly that Refraction’s mission is having a real and positive impact,” said Quigley. “The diversity of startups that call Refraction home has us excited about future growth and the next chapter.”
The 100+ Refraction occupants – which include 40 Canvas employees – represent 21 member organizations from a range of technology sectors, as well as the nonprofit and creative communities. New and existing Refraction members include:
Technology startups
- Intellinote – founded by former Clarabridge executives, this cloud workforce management provider secured $4.3 million from Grotech and Boulder Ventures
- AppTapp – app discovering engine landed $4m in most recent funding round
- masFLIGHT – startup that is unlocking the power of aviation operations data through its big data warehouse and analytics platform
- BCAST – a social media broadcasting platform seeking to transform how individuals access live events and activities
Nonprofits
- Washington West Film Festival (WWFF) – Refraction is home to the Film Festival’s organizers that put on the annual film event in Reston, and whose proceeds go entirely to charity
- LetsGiveBack.org – a nonprofit dedicated to building community through helping others, with an initial program focused on what supplies families need when facing a stressful medical crisis
Creatives
- Right Source Marketing – a strategic marketing consulting firm that supports a broad range of clients at all stages of development
- AccelArt, LLC – an innovative fundraising, marketing and business services firm dedicated to advancing the artistic community by accelerating the emergence of culturally relevant individual works
Rachael Stott, Refraction co-founder, adds, “Management visionary Peter Drucker once said ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast,’ and we understood from the start that genuine collaboration among diverse groups requires re-imagining how individuals work. Refraction is a space built around the new working model, and we are excited that so many entrepreneurs share our passion to collaborate and innovate.”
Entrepreneurs and organizations interested in locating at Refraction can do so by securing offices and desks on an ongoing, monthly or daily basis.
About Refraction
Refraction, a forward-thinking co-working space in the heart of Reston Town Center, empowers collaboration and innovation among entrepreneurs and startups from diverse industries – though mainly in the Software as a Service (SaaS) sector. Unlike traditional co-working spaces that are restricted to technology startups, Refraction was developed and designed to spur “experiments in collaboration” by focusing on startups and organizations across vibrant tech, nonprofit and artist communities that are past the ideation stage and looking to scale. To learn more about Refraction, visit http://refractionpoint.org/.
About Canvas
Canvas is an easy, fast and economical way for businesses to find, customize and create mobile forms to replace paper forms. Canvas is a cloud-based software service that enables users to collect information using mobile devices, share that information and integrate with existing backend systems. Canvas also offers the first mobile business application store of its kind, allowing businesses from diverse industries to find mobile forms specific to their needs. To learn more, visit http://www.goCanvas.com.