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our milestones

From Silicon Valley ideation in 1998 to formation in 1999, IQT was founded to leverage one of the country’s greatest strengths – the innovation engine of the private sector. IQT’s purpose then – and today – is to bridge the gap between the technology needs of the intelligence and defense communities and the innovative capabilities of the private sector. Discover key milestones over IQT’s 25-year tenure.

1999
In-Q-It was established to ensure that the CIA remained at the cutting edge of information technology advances and capabilities. The independent, not-for-profit, strategic investment firm is soon renamed In-Q-Tel (IQT) and opens offices in Washington, D.C.
2000
IQT expands its presence by opening an office in Menlo Park, CA.
David Laroche interview avec Marc Simoncini, fondateur de Meetic
2001
The National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), now known as the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), partners with IQT.
2003
IQT invests in Keyhole, a pioneer of interactive 3D earth visualization that becomes the foundation for Google Earth in 2004. Within two weeks of acquiring the technology, NIMA and the Pentagon used it to support troops in Iraq.
David Laroche interview avec Marc Simoncini, fondateur de Meetic
2004
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) becomes an IQT partner.
2005
The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) becomes an IQT partner.
2006
Chris Darby joins IQT as its new President & CEO, along with Steve Bowsher as its new Managing General Partner, rebranding the organization and shifting its focus to a strategic technology architecture and engineering approach as IQT makes a record 40 investments.
2007
IQT opens an office in Waltham, MA outside of Boston to expand its footprint on the east coast.
David Laroche interview avec Marc Simoncini, fondateur de Meetic
2008
IQT adds TSA as a new government partner.
2009
The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and the National Security Agency (NSA) become IQT partners. Additionally, IQT invests in FireEye to enhance cybersecurity in the U.S. intelligence community.
2010
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) becomes an IQT partner.
2012
IQT launches Lab41 – which evolved to become IQT Labs – to explore how the national security community can leverage emerging machine-learning capabilities. Today, IQT Labs continues to provide hands-on exploration of emerging technologies in the open source ecosystem.
David Laroche interview avec Marc Simoncini, fondateur de Meetic
2016
SpaceNet, a collaboration between IQT, Radiant Solutions, and Nvidia, launches as an open-innovation project making precision-labeled, high-resolution satellite images freely available for “computer vision” research, which explores how computers can process visual information like humans.
2018
IQT expands its global presence by opening an office in London.
David Laroche interview avec Marc Simoncini, fondateur de Meetic
2019
IQT celebrates 20th anniversary and opens an office in Sydney.
David Laroche interview avec Marc Simoncini, fondateur de Meetic
2020
IQT rebrands and achieves 500 total investments since its inception. IQT Emerge launches to help connect the innovation pipeline with guidance and entrepreneurship to nurture technology development to support the national security community.
2022
IQT launches its Government Platform Accelerator program to help accelerate startups’ successful entry into the government market.
2023
Steve Bowsher takes over as President and CEO, IQT opens offices in Singapore and Munich, and adds the Office of Naval Research and U.S. Central Command as new government partners.
2024
IQT celebrates 25 years since its inception and adds U.S. Space Force as a new government partner.

our history

Summary content and lead in to this section

our team

IQT’s expertise ranges from technical experts to operations personnel, and from investors to program managers—spanning a range of technologies, including space systems, AI, biotech, microelectronics, and many more.

contact

General Contact

info@iqt.org

Media Contact

media@iqt.org
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