By Sara Gilgore

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The startups that survived 2020 are probably looking to the new year with hope — it couldn’t possibly be any worse. But for others, the pandemic year wasn’t a disaster, but rather an opportunity seized.

Coronavirus curtailed investments for a period of the pandemic, tempering deals and threatening rounds that either closed prematurely or paused temporarily. But plenty of Greater Washington’s startups brought in new funding in 2020, reinforcing the strength of the region’s ventures and signaling positive momentum for 2021 …

MPower Financing: The D.C.-based student loan startup received $115,000 from Halcyon Angels, a new network of early-stage investors under the social entrepreneurship nonprofit’s umbrella. That was the icing on the cake of $9 million MPower raised in June from a slew of investors, bringing its total funding to date to just shy of $30 million. It marked a new investor for the company and the Georgetown angel group’s third investment — which will go toward automating more of the startup’s loan application reviews. MPower also plans to double its 50-person team in the next year, after launching in 2014. It now works with more than 350 colleges and universities to provide loans to students from more than 200 countries, amounting to about $2 billion in loan applications on its platform.