In-Q-Tel (IQT)

In-Q-Tel was founded by Norm Augustine, the former Lockheed Martin chairman, and Gilman Louie, who served as its first chief executive. Christopher Darby ran the organization from 2006 until December 2023, when Steve Bowsher, previously president, was named chief executive on December 14 of that year. Bowsher sets the mandate of identifying, evaluating and leveraging emerging commercial technology for the national security community and its allies.

Michael M. Crow, president of Arizona State University, has chaired the board since 2009. A.J. Bertone serves as executive vice president for investments and leads the U.S. investment team. Jennifer Nelson, PhD, is executive vice president international after nearly 15 years across IQT functions, and Julianne Sobral is chief of staff, coordinating priorities across operations in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Singapore.

In-Q-Tel is not a limited partnership and raises no outside capital. It is a non-profit strategic investor chartered on September 29, 1999 at the initiative of CIA director George Tenet, and financed through contracts with the CIA and the wider intelligence community. It was incorporated first as Peleus and then as In-Q-It before settling on In-Q-Tel.

The organization receives roughly $120 million a year from the intelligence community, with the CIA the largest single contributor but supplying less than half. Reported revenue was $108.26 million in 2024, and total assets were $1.03 billion in 2022. Deployment runs at about 50 new investments a year averaging roughly $1.5 million and capped near $3 million, or about $75 million annually; it recorded 37 investments in 2025. Rather than fund vintages, its expansion has been geographic: offices opened in London in 2018, Sydney in 2019, and Munich and Singapore in 2023, extending the model to allied governments.