Exclusive: In-Q-Tel pivots strategy for "forward-deployed" warfare and espionage
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In-Q-Tel is refashioning its investment strategy to focus on a smaller number of big bets in key areas like autonomy, contested logistics and critical infrastructure, CEO Steve Bowsher told Axios.
The big picture: The venture capital firm, birthed from the CIA, helped elevate Anduril Industries and Palantir Technologies, among the splashiest companies in today's defense-tech frenzy.
- Its hundreds of other investments include drone-maker Neros, cyber specialist Twenty and remote-sensing company ICEYE.
Driving the news: Bowsher will lay out his vision of "mission investing" and "forward-deployed conflict" this afternoon at a private CEO summit.
- "The theme that this administration is driving — that we wholeheartedly support — is get tech on-mission faster," Bowsher told Axios ahead of his remarks.
- "The iteration cycle is so fast that what works in the Ukrainian conflict today doesn't work six weeks from now. There's this whole cat-and-mouse game," he added. "Everything is moving out to the edge."
State of play: The overhaul and its announcement are months in the making. It follows consultations with Defense Department, intelligence community and homeland security officials, as well as preliminary messaging that kicked off in January.
- There's consensus that "the U.S. government should be shifting a significant portion of its spend from the traditional primes, who are great at building small numbers of expensive, exquisite platforms, to a set of companies that are going to build a large number of cheap, unmanned things," Bowsher said.
- "There's going to be a couple of huge winners out of this space. Of that I have no doubt," he added.
- "If the next conflict is determined by whose junior military officer corps is more creative, more capable, more decisive, that's where the U.S. wins."
Yes, but: Around a dozen people were laid off or left as a result of the changes. In-Q-Tel employs approximately 180 people.
By the numbers: There were 290 defense-tech deals globally in 2025, valued at nearly $9.5 billion, Axios previously reported, citing Pitchbook data.
- The sector's acceleration began around 2021, but 2025 set a new pace.
