News & Events
Economic Barometer Newsletter
October 2003
Locate Announcements/News
Greater Washington continues to be an attractive location for international companies, according to a recent analysis completed by the Greater Washington Initiative (GWI). An update to a 2001 study, the analysis identified 607 foreign-owned firms that call our region home, a slight decrease from the previous study that identified 643 firms. The UK accounts for 18.5% of all firms, passing Japan as home to the most international firms operating in the region. For a comparison of the 2003 vs. 2001 study, visit www.greaterwashington.org. GWI has identified and directly helped ten companies locate in Greater Washington, six of which are international:
COAST Software - Washington, DC – a web quality and maintenance technology company from Canada
Halcrow – Arlington, VA – a firm specializing in professional planning, design and management services for infrastructure development, from the UK
Industrial Investment Council – Washington, DC - an investment promotion agency from Germany
RBC Centura - Vienna, VA – a commercial banking and real estate firm from Canada
ResearchResearch – Washington, DC – a publishing company from the UK
STATSYS Limited - Reston, VA - a consultancy company based in the UK
Click here for a list of all domestic and international firms GWI helped bring to the region in 2003. 
CANAC, a provider of products and services to railroads, recently announced the opening of a U.S. headquarters in Washington, DC, according to the Washington Business Journal. The company said the District office will consolidate several smaller locations from the Greater Washington region, and it will serve as a center for its U.S. engineering, planning and infrastructure services. More Info
The Regional "Business Pulse" survey of Greater Washington executives recently revealed that confidence is growing among Washington-area business CEOs over the strength of the local economy. The survey showed a large jump in the number of area business leaders who are very optimistic for the upcoming quarter. 17% said they were “very positive” about the prospects for overall economic activity in the Washington, DC economy (compared to 10% last quarter) in and nearly one-fourth (22%) said they were “very positive” about the prospects for their industry (compared to 17% in Q3). Business Pulse is a quarterly survey conducted by Widmeyer Communications for the Greater Washington Board of Trade and the Washington Business Journal.
Entrepreneur Magazine ranked Greater Washington the second-best location for entrepreneurs, and the best location on the East Coast. Four criteria are used to rank the cities: Entrepreneurial Activity (based on the number of businesses 5 years old or younger), Small-Business Growth (based on the number of businesses with fewer than 20 employees that had significant employment growth from January 2002 to January 2003), Job Growth (change in job growth over a three-year period through January 2003), and Risk (bankruptcy rates). Dun & Bradstreet worked with Entrepreneur to compile the results. More Info
Labor Force
Greater Washington Layoffs
Greater Washington ExpansionsFirst Virginia Bank - 550 workers
XO Communications - 500 workers
Gateway - 450 workers
Corvis - 200 workers
Baxter International - 88 workers
BB&T - 65 workers
United Airlines - 49 workers
Nextel Communications - Northern Virginia, looking for 300,000 sq. ft. for consolidated headquarters operation
Various Fairfax County companies - 1,600 workers
XO Communications - 300 workers
General Dynamics - 170-340 workers
Howard Hughes Medical Institute - 150 workers
ZyLab Technologies - 10 workers
Consul Risk Management - 10 workers
Note - Layoff and Expansion data was taken from various media stories distributed between August - October 2003. Contact companies directly to verify most current data.
Venture Capital
Top Venture Capital Deals in Greater Washington,
Quarter 2, 2003
Source: MoneyTree Survey, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Thomson Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital AssociationInPhonic, Inc. - Telecommunications-
Washington, DC - 56 million
Broadmargin - Computers and Peripherals
Fairfax, VA - 21 million
Lumenos, Inc. - Media and Entertainment
Alexandria, VA - 10 million
NFR Security - Software
Rockville, MD - 7.5 million
Intellitactics, Inc. - Software
Bethesda, MD - 6.8 million
Cyveillance, Inc. - Software
Arlington, VA - 5 million
Managed Objects Solutions, Inc. - Software McLean, VA - 5 million
e-Security, Inc. - Software
Vienna, VA - 5 million
Defywire, Inc. - Telecommunications
Herndon, VA - 4.5 million
GlycoMimetics, Inc. - Biotechnology
Rockville, MD - 4.3 million
GWI Services
- Services and Research
GWI offers complimentary services and research when you need more than just information. Contact us at GWI.
Contact GWI
Greater Washington Initiative
(202) 857-5999
