FiscalNote

FiscalNote is a privately held software, data, and media company headquartered in Washington, D.C. The company was founded by Timothy Hwang, Gerald Yao, and Jonathan Chen in 2013.[6] FiscalNote provides software tools and platforms, data services, and news through the FiscalNote Government Relationship Management (GRM) service, its core revenue-generating product.[7][3][8]

FiscalNote, Inc.
Private
IndustrySoftware as a service, information services, technology
FoundedJune 2013[1] in Sunnyvale, California
FounderTimothy Hwang, Gerald Yao, Jonathan Chen
Headquarters1201 Pennsylvania Avenue,
Washington, D.C.
Number of locations
6 Washington, D.C., Seoul, Baton Rouge, New York, India, Brussels (2018)[2]
Number of employees
475+[3][4][5]
Websitewww.fiscalnote.com

According to founder Timothy Hwang, in an interview with Entrepreneur magazine in 2017, the GRM "aggregates legislation, regulations and government filings from thousands of federal, state and local agencies, uses artificial intelligence to structure it and normalize it, and delivers personalized data feeds to companies to show how government may be impacting their businesses." [9]

FiscalNote is also the owner of CQ Roll Call, which it acquired from The Economist Group in 2018.[10][11]

History

FiscalNote was founded in 2013 in Sunnyvale, California, by Timothy Hwang, Gerald Yao, and Jonathan Chen, who were friends from Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville.[12][13] Hwang, having finished his junior year at Princeton, brought Chen and Yao together to Silicon Valley to start the company. The company was founded in a Motel 6,[14] where early employees Dan Maglasang and Dev Shah worked to build the product.[15][16]

In May 2017, FiscalNote announced its expansion into Australia and New Zealand.

In June 2017, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced a major job training program alongside FiscalNote, named as one of the largest software employers in the District of Columbia.[17] The mayor announced a $750,000 economic development package for FiscalNote as it moved its headquarters to 1201 Pennsylvania Avenue.[18][19][20]

In July 2017, FiscalNote announced the availability of data sets for Argentina, Canada, Chile, India, and the United Kingdom.[21]

Funding and acquisitions

In late 2013, FiscalNote received early seed money from Mark Cuban after a cold email from Timothy Hwang.[22][23] This was soon followed by an investment from New Enterprise Associates, Yahoo cofounder Jerry Yang, and First Round Capital leading to a total $1.3 million round.[24][25]

In fall 2014, FiscalNote received $7 million in its first institutional (and second total) financing round. Investors included AOL Founder Steve Case, Visionnaire Ventures (a joint fund between Taizo Son and Temasek, with participation from Jerry Yang, Mark Cuban, New Enterprise Associates, Winklevoss Capital Management, Enspire Capital, Green Visor Capital (led by former Visa Chief Executive Joseph Saunders, and Middleland Capital.[26][27] Steve Case invested as part of his Rise of the Rest Fund.[28]

In February 2015, FiscalNote announced that it had raised $10 million in a third round of financing. Investors included Chinese social network Renren.[29] The move was a part of a larger move by Renren to diversify beyond its core area of online games and e-commerce in China.

In February 2016, FiscalNote raised another $10 million in a fourth round of financing. The round was led by Green Visor and Visionnaire.[30][31] FiscalNote later added $5 million to this round with a strategic investment from South Korean conglomerate MoneyToday Media alongside a strategic partnership with its newspaper and television divisions (MTN).[32] This came after FiscalNote's acquisition of MyCandidate in Korea.[33][34][35]

In August 2017, FiscalNote acquired 16-year old Baton Rouge company VoterVoice, bringing 1,100 new customers and expanding into the advocacy space.[36][37][38] FiscalNote CEO Hwang announced that the acquisition would be the first in "hundreds of millions".[39]

In January 2018, FiscalNote announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos that it had acquired a Brussels-based counterpart called Shungham, giving the company a foothold in the European Union as it seeks to expand globally.[40][41][42][43]

In July 2018, FiscalNote announced that it would acquire Congressional Quarterly and Roll Call from The Economist Group.[44]

Operations

FiscalNote is headquartered in Washington, DC with regional headquarters in Seoul, Korea covering Asia and Brussels covering the European Union and the Middle East. Other major offices are in New York City, Baton Rouge, Gurgaon, India.[2] FiscalNote operates in multiple languages and as of January 2018 had over 1,300 customers and over 21.9 million users.[45]

Corporate culture

The FiscalNote offices are flat. The office space places executives and employees shoulder-to-shoulder at identical desks.[46]

Advisors and board

FiscalNote's board includes General Stanley A. McChrystal, Glenn Hubbard, Alec Ross (author), former Obama White House cabinet secretary and former Deputy Secretary of Labor Chris Lu, Congressman Mike Ferguson, Congressman Glenn Nye, and former publisher of the Washington Post Katharine Weymouth.[47]

Events

FiscalNote regularly convenes proprietary events on topics ranging from central bank policy to trade and immigration. The company produces content and events for government affairs professionals in particular. Recent speakers include Governor Martin O'Malley, CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney, S&P Global CEO Douglas L. Peterson, Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, and U.S. Ambassador for Special Political Affairs at the United Nations Stuart Holliday.[48][49]

Recognition and impact

In late 2017, FiscalNote researchers discovered that millions of comments submitted to the FCC during the net neutrality debate were forged using bots. Researchers used a variety of natural language processing techniques to uncover the anomalies.[50][51][52] Ironically, it was later reported that many of those comments were generated by a FiscalNote subsidiary.[53]

During the 2017 special presidential election in South Korea after President Park Geun Hye was impeached, FiscalNote launched nudepresident.com, matching South Korean voters with their ideal choice for president using artificial intelligence, correctly predicting that President Moon Jae In would be elected. The mobile application received over 5 million users in several weeks.[54][55][56][57]

FiscalNote won the Technology Pioneer Award and Distinction at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in 2016.[58] FiscalNote was named to the CNN 10 in 2014 [59]

FiscalNote regularly uses its data to publish rankings of lawmakers and their effectiveness.[60]

During the 2019-2020 coronavirus pandemic, FiscalNote laid off 6% of the company, with one source telling AdWeek that the layoffs included the entire team of investigative reporters, and all but one staff member from the print magazine team.[5]

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References
  1. "The FiscalNote Origin Story – FiscalNote Insights". March 16, 2015.
  2. Gregg, Aaron (January 25, 2018). "A D.C. tech firm heads to Davos to outline its plans for building a global network". The Washington Post.
  3. "Can Washington Be Automated?". Politico. January 5, 2018.
  4. https://www.bisnow.com/washington-dc/news/tech/fastest-growing-companies-50647
  5. Nover, Scott (April 2, 2020). "Dozens Fired at CQ Roll Call, a Publication Known for Reporting Inside Washington". AdWeek. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  6. https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/print-edition/2013/08/16/fiscalnote-helps-business-keep-track.html
  7. Gaynor, Michael J. (February 1, 2018). "Can big data predict which bills will pass Congress?". The Washington Post.
  8. "Fiscal Note: When Technology Meets Legislation". NBC News.
  9. Schomer, Stephanie (August 30, 2017). "This 25-Year-Old Entrepreneur Is Trying to Do the Impossible: Make Sense of the Government".
  10. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/dc-based-tech-startup-fiscalnote-to-buy-cq-roll-call/2018/07/25/37939b6e-8fd4-11e8-8322-b5482bf5e0f5_story.html
  11. Calderone, Michael. "Economist Group to sell CQ Roll Call to FiscalNote". politico.com. Politico. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
  12. "Is This the Next Bill Gates?".
  13. "Communicators Tim Hwang, Oct 2 2014 - Video - C-SPAN.org". C-SPAN.org.
  14. https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/techflash/2015/03/fiscalnotes-early-path-stress-swiped-food-and-the.html
  15. "Starting Off: 6/19/2013". FiscalNote.
  16. "How FiscalNote Gets Ahead of Government (So You Don't Have to)".
  17. "Mayor Bowser to Announce New Tech Job Training Opportunities - mayormb". mayor.dc.gov.
  18. "FiscalNote plans new DC headquarters, tech training - Technical.ly DC". June 23, 2017.
  19. https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2017/06/22/a-year-later-fiscalnote-on-the-move-again.html
  20. "FiscalNote Relocates DC Headquarters". www.cpexecutive.com.
  21. "FiscalNote Accelerates Global Expansion Plans; Adds Australia, New Zealand To Industry's Only GRM Platform". www.businesswire.com. May 2, 2017. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  22. markcubancompanies.com. "Mark Cuban Companies - Entrepreneur - Dallas, TX". markcubancompanies.com.
  23. "FiscalNote Founder: This Is What Happened When I Cold Emailed Mark Cuban".
  24. Heath, Thomas (September 21, 2014). "Potomac entrepreneur replaces crystal ball with artificial intelligence to predict what bills might pass" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  25. https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/09/11/mark-cuban-others-put-12m-in.html
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  27. Heath, Thomas (November 19, 2014). "FiscalNote snares $7 million in investments from Winklevoss, Singapore wealth fund" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  28. "From Bezos to Walton, Big Investors Back Fund for 'Flyover' Start-Ups". December 4, 2017 – via NYTimes.com.
  29. Purnell, Newley (February 3, 2015). "China's Renren Invests in U.S. Startup FiscalNote".
  30. "Who Needs Lobbyists for Political Intelligence? This Tech Startup Has a Better Way".
  31. "FiscalNote's $10 million Series C includes some impressive investors - Technical.ly DC". February 4, 2016.
  32. Chernova, Yuliya (January 23, 2017). "Global Uncertainty Plays to Startup FiscalNote's Hand" – via www.wsj.com.
  33. "FiscalNote makes its first acquisition - Technical.ly DC". September 11, 2015.
  34. "FiscalNote Acquires MyCandidate". September 10, 2015.
  35. "Renren-backed FiscalNote acquires South Korean startup MyCandidate".
  36. "FiscalNote Acquires Advocacy Platform VoterVoice". www.govtech.com.
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  38. report, Advocate staff. "Washington, D.C. firm acquires Baton Rouge-based VoterVoice".
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  41. CNBC. "Press Releases". CNBC.
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  46. "Episode 53: Scaling a GovTech Business".
  47. "Leadership".
  48. "Reinvent Influence Summit - Bizzabo". reinvent.fiscalnote.com.
  49. "Governor Martin O'Malley, General Stanley McChrystal Headline FiscalNote ReInvent Influence Summit". November 14, 2016.
  50. "How Bots Broke the FCC's Public Comment System".
  51. "Report: Bots infiltrated FCC's net neutrality public comment process - Technical.ly DC". November 30, 2017.
  52. https://www.americaninno.com/dc/newsletters/fiscalnote-uncovers-bots-in-fcc-net-neutrality-forums-d-c-is-1-for-women-in-tech-but-we-still-have-more-to-do/
  53. Cameron, Dell. "How an Investigation of Fake FCC Comments Snared a Prominent D.C. Media Firm". Gizmodo. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
  54. TechForKorea. "FiscalNote Korea's 'Nude President' Shows Your Matching Rate with Each Presidential Candidate - Korean Startups News". www.techforkorea.com.
  55. "Who's your ideal presidential candidate? AI services have an answer".
  56. Herald, The Korea (April 19, 2017). "[Election 2017] Candidate research gets easier with AI, matching service".
  57. Ramirez, Elaine. "How This Entrepreneur Is Helping South Koreans Pick Their Next President".
  58. "Technology Pioneers 2016 - World Economic Forum". widgets.weforum.org.
  59. "The CNN 10: Startups".
  60. "Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell score poorly in ranking of most effective legislators". April 27, 2017.
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