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Organization

In-Q-Tel

Not-for-profit strategic investment firm set up by the CIA in 1999.

4 links, 2 backed by primary records

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Dates
1999 –
Also known as
IQT

In-Q-Tel was set up by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1999 to invest in start-ups whose technology the intelligence community wants. It calls itself independent: “It’s not a government entity nor a part of the CIA.”

Its 2003 investment in Keyhole became, after Google bought Keyhole in 2004, the technology behind Google Earth. It was also an early backer of Palantir Technologies.

Connections 4

founded by

invested in

  • Keyhole Feb 2003 strategic investment on behalf of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency Primary record 45
  • Palantir Technologies early investor Scholarship & press 26

funded by

Timeline 3 dates
  1. 1999 – In-Q-Tel
  2. 1999 Central Intelligence Agency founded In-Q-Tel
  3. Feb 2003 In-Q-Tel invested in Keyhole
Proof 6 sources
  1. In-Q-Tel: The Central Intelligence Agency as Venture Capitalist, Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business, 2013. Scholarship & press
    The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the United States’ principal foreign intelligence and spy organization, chartered the first government-sponsored venture capital firm, dubbed In-Q-Tel, in February 1999.
    In-Q-Tel uses CIA-supplied funds to make strategic investments in startup companies developing commercially focused technologies that are of interest to the CIA and greater intelligence community.
  2. Meet the CIA-backed venture fund behind Palantir, Anduril, and a spy tool that might be on your phone, Fortune, 29 Jul 2025. Scholarship & press
    In-Q-Tel was founded in 1999 by the CIA—yes that CIA, the Central Intelligence Agency—with the mission of closing a perceived innovation gap between Washington’s security establishment and Silicon Valley.
    In-Q-Tel also backed Palantir, supplier of big-data analytics to the military and intel agencies.
  3. About IQT, In-Q-Tel. Self-published
    Set up in 1999 by the CIA as an independent, not-for-profit strategic investment firm
  4. In-Q-Tel Announces Strategic Investment in Keyhole, In-Q-Tel, 25 Jun 2003. Primary record
    The investment, made in February 2003, was In-Q-Tel's first engagement with a company on behalf of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA).
  5. Important CIA Contributions to Modern Technology Over the Last 75 Years, Central Intelligence Agency. Primary record
    In February 2003, the CIA-funded venture-capital firm In-Q-Tel made a strategic investment in Keyhole, Inc., a pioneer of interactive 3-D earth visualization and creator of the groundbreaking rich-mapping EarthViewer 3D system.
    In February 2003, the CIA-funded venture-capital firm In-Q-Tel made a strategic investment in Keyhole, Inc.
  6. Palantir raises $450m in latest fund-raising round, The Register, 24 Jul 2015. Scholarship & press
    It was also backed in its early stages by the the CIA's In-Q-Tel venture capital arm.
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