https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-funded-by-cia-2016-9
The Central Intelligence Agency has its own investment capital arm, and it's been pumping money into some of Silicon Valley's most innovative companies for years.
In-Q-Tel (named after "Q" in the James Bond films) invests in companies that can deliver useful technology to the intelligence community within 36 months. But since it's structured as an independent, non-profit organization, it's rather unique: It's a VC firm that doesn't really need to make money back for outside investors, and it can tap into the deep pockets of the intelligence "black budget."
Its involvement in a startup is also a stamp-of-approval of sorts, often bringing in more money from other VC firms, to the tune of $11-$15 for every dollar the CIA kicks in. In-Q-Tel typically does not disclose the amount it invests, though a Washington Post story from 2005 says the funding is often relatively small $500,000 to $2 million investments.
Here are some of the cutting edge companies the CIA has found useful.
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An analyst looks at code in the malware lab of a cyber security defense lab at the Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls, Idaho September 29, 2011.
Cylance built a product that can analyze and determine whether a file you are about to open is malware, and then stop it from executing — all in less than a second.
Instead of using lists of known bad software, or "signatures" of malware, Cylance's product uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to determine what's bad and what's not.
Especially when phishing email scams are still the number one method hackers use, Cylance's software is a gamechanger in the cybersecurity space. Which is probably why it's currently valued over $1 billion.
The product, CylancePROTECT, is used exclusively in the enterprise for large corporations, banks, and government clients. Cylance told Business Insider it would soon be launching a product for regular users as well.
In-Q-Tel invested in the company in 2016.
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Let's say you are a big retailer like Wal Mart or CVS, and you want to get an understanding of how many people are shopping at your stores. One method for figuring this out is to analyze the number of cars in the parking lot — which is one thing Orbital Insights can do.
The company can figure out things such as how certain stores are performing, how many people visit a store, or determine how busy it is at certain times of the day, and so on.
The satellite analysis can answer other questions as well: What intersections are the busiest at rush hour? Or perhaps, how is China's economy doing?