Basis Tech Gets In-Q-Tel Funding
December 7, 2010
Calling the CIA “The Company” doesn’t seem like so much of an ironic joke these days with government funding developing technology that might help spooks spy. “How the C.I.A. Perfects its Social Media Monitoring Technologies” gives an overview of the workings of In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s 10-year-old venture capital company.
Kashmir Hill writes: “In-Q-Tel is a rather secretive group. It declined to speak to me for the story, but I did chat with the CEO of one of the companies the group has funded. Basis Technology CEO Carl Hoffman told me In-Q-Tel is a great investor for a small start-up because it’s a gateway to Washington for small companies that normally struggle to compete for federal contracts.“ Basis Technology has been the recipient of In-Q-Tel funding to expand its multilingual text analytic software products and services to include Middle Eastern languages. This new niche has, in turn, led Basis Tech to do business with several other federal agencies, an exciting development.
Hill’s conclusion is that the only downside for these CIA-funded companies is that it might hinder their expansion to China and the Middle East. With terrorism paranoia at the levels that it is these days, I think he might be right.
Alice Wasielewski, December 7, 2010
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One Response to “Basis Tech Gets In-Q-Tel Funding”
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Alice, I-Q-Tel’s initial investment in Basis Technology dates to March 2004. This is not new news.
Seth