Booz Allen: The Innovation Matchmaker for Tech Startups
First to find and fund America’s most promising tech
America’s venture-backed technology ecosystem is an engine of breakthrough innovation. But it can take years before its most mission-relevant capabilities reach the federal government.
Enter Booz Allen Ventures. Backed by a $100 million venture capital fund, we find and vet early-stage technologies that are well-positioned to strengthen America’s competitive advantage and back promising startups before their products make headlines. Last year alone, our tech scouts evaluated 6,400 early-stage companies. More than just investors, we guide federal agencies through Silicon Valley’s intricate patchwork of companies and investors, and we work shoulder-to-shoulder with our portfolio companies to build government-ready technologies that can drive results.
Here’s a look at how Booz Allen Ventures builds innovation.
One (Very Low) Leap for Satellite Technology
Just over a year after Booz Allen Ventures made a strategic investment in Albedo, the company successfully launched Clarity-1, the first commercial satellite to operate in Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO). From there, Clarity-1 can collect ultra-high-resolution data at a fraction of the cost and time of traditional satellites.
The images Clarity-1 captures have a resolution equal to those taken by drones or aircraft but cover significantly more ground. By operating satellites in VLEO, Albedo will reimagine how government and commercial clients monitor what’s happening on Earth. And with its Strategic Funding Increase (STRAFI) contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Albedo’s technology is already playing an important role in the U.S. government’s space strategy.
Securing AI from America’s Adversaries
As AI becomes more integral to government and commercial operations, the threat of crippling attacks against it grows. Individual bad actors and nation states are developing sophisticated methods to degrade and manipulate AI systems. HiddenLayer offers a solid line of defense.
HiddenLayer’s technology safeguards commercial and government AI systems without requiring access to the proprietary data and algorithms that power them. Less than a year after a Booz Allen Ventures made a strategic investment in the company, HiddenLayer became the exclusive scanning tool in Microsoft’s AI Studio Catalog. Booz Allen’s AI and cybersecurity professionals use HiddenLayer’s software to augment AI risk and vulnerability assessments and strengthen the detection of attacks against AI.
Winning the Quantum Race
There is a global race to move quantum computing from theory to practice, and the nation that gets there first will have a significant advantage in consequential fields like cybersecurity, materials science, and drug discovery. Booz Allen Ventures invested in SEEQC, a company that is breaking down the barriers that have prevented quantum computing hardware from being scaled to the sizes necessary to solve real-world problems.
SEEQC’s quantum chips integrate components of quantum and classical computers into a single, energy-efficient system. Along with NVIDIA, the company recently demonstrated the first end-to-end fully digital quantum-classical interface—a key milestone in ensuring quantum and classical computers can work together.
