26 – 100 in alphabetical order: George Hoyem, In-Q-Tel
George Hoyem, managing partner at In-Q-Tel (IQT), the venture investment unit of the US intelligence community, is one of the largest strategic dealmakers in the US with more than 50 primarily early-stage deals each year.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) being one of IQT’s clients as a nonprofit strategic investment unit means many of these deals are kept private.
In 2018, IQT made about 55 new investments in support of eight intelligence directorates. Some deals include:
- A partnership with augmented reality firm Immersive Wisdom in December 2018.
- A $40m series B follow-on round for machine learning system developer Primer in November 2018.
- A $92m series C round for data analytics software producer OmniSci in October 2018.
IQT also opened its first international offices in London, UK and Sydney, Australia in November last year. IQT said in a statement: “Our core strength is our ability to identify and deliver insights and access to new commercial technologies on behalf of our government partners in the intelligence and national security communities. Innovation knows no boundaries, and a physical presence is a continuation of our efforts to obtain a better understanding of technology and market developments outside the US.
“These offices will take advantage of the world-class science and technology, and venture capital ecosystems available within each region to continue IQT’s national security mission for the US and its allies. These offices will support a partnership between the US, UK and Australian intelligence and national security communities.”
In its annual tax filings, IQT said it was founded in 1999 as a “private, not-for-profit company to help the CIA and broader US intelligence community identify, adapt and deliver cutting-edge technologies that address national security needs. IQT’s strategic investment model means, on average, for every dollar that IQT invests in a company the venture capital community has invested over $10, helping to deliver crucial new capabilities at a lower cost to the government.”
As one of the executives behind IQT’s formation and who remains closely involved put it: “IQT was originally modelled as a technology VC because technology and entrepreneurship was the area of interest for us.”
Hoyem, who has more than 25 years of entrepreneurial, operations and venture capital investing experience in high-technology companies, remains active himself and has led close to 20 investments at IQT since he joined in 2010.
Hoyem manages the West Coast Investment team and heads the enterprise IT investment practice area. This investment area includes companies targeting solutions in advanced analytics, cybersecurity, datacentre infrastructure, cloud and mobile-focused technologies.
Earlier in his career, Hoyem also backed, supported and served on the boards of several dozen emerging technology companies as managing partner at Blueprint Ventures and at Redleaf Group and El Dorado Ventures before and after the millennium, including Good Technology, which was acquired by Blackberry in November 2015, Solera Networks, which was acquired by Blue Coat in May 2013 and SpectraSensors, which was acquired by Endress & Hauser in 2012.
Hoyem holds a bachelor of arts degree in business and computer science from Western Michigan University.
