In-Q-Tel
In-Q-Tel is the not-for-profit strategic investor the CIA created in 1999 to bring commercial technology to US national security. Water reaches it sideways, through resource security: lithium refined without water, and thermal satellites that track crop water from orbit. As of 2026 it has backed 2 water companies across 2 deals.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
In-Q-Tel is not a water fund, and the way it got its name tells you why: the 'Q' is a nod to the gadget-maker in James Bond. The CIA spun it up in 1999 as a radical experiment, a not-for-profit venture arm that could move at startup speed and buy its way into the commercial technology the intelligence community had stopped inventing in-house. Twenty-five years on it has made more than 700 investments and runs a global platform from Tysons, Virginia, with offices in Menlo Park, Cambridge, London, Munich, Singapore and Sydney.
In-Q-Tel reaches water the way a spy agency would, through the security of the resources a nation runs on. Its two water companies in my Leviathan database both sit on that seam. ElectraLith refines battery-grade lithium straight from brine with a membrane process that, unlike the desert evaporation ponds it replaces, consumes no water at all, which matters when lithium supply chains run through geopolitics as much as chemistry. constellr flies thermal-infrared microsatellites that read the heat of farmland and turn it into one of the first orbital measures of how much water crops are actually using. The common thread is water as national-security infrastructure, not water for its own sake.
In-Q-Tel writes those cheques the way it backs AI, autonomy and space: as a strategic co-investor that brings a government customer to the table rather than chasing the round. It rarely leads, preferring to join syndicates alongside names like Lakestar and VSquared Ventures. For a newcomer the useful frame is this: In-Q-Tel is a national-security investor that owns a thin but pointed slice of the water-and-critical-minerals story, and when it turns up in a water round it is usually because the technology also answers a question someone in Washington is asking.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
How they invest
Portfolio · 2 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does In-Q-Tel invest in?
- In-Q-Tel invests in commercial technology that serves US national security: artificial intelligence, autonomy, space, biotechnology, and cybersecurity. Its water-related bets sit inside that mandate, a lithium-refining process that uses no water and thermal satellites that monitor how much water crops consume. Water is two threads in a broad portfolio.
- Is In-Q-Tel a water fund?
- In-Q-Tel is not a dedicated water fund. It is the not-for-profit strategic investor created by the CIA in 1999, and water shows up only where it meets national security. In-Q-Tel has backed 2 water companies across 2 deals, a thin slice of more than 700 investments spanning AI, space, and defense technology.
- Who runs In-Q-Tel?
- In-Q-Tel has been led since December 2023 by chief executive Steve Bowsher, who joined the firm in 2006 and previously served as its president. A.J. Bertone, managing partner, leads its US investing, and Daniel Gwak serves as chief investment officer across the global platform.
- Is In-Q-Tel part of the CIA?
- In-Q-Tel was created at the CIA's initiative in 1999 but operates as an independent, not-for-profit organisation rather than a government office. It is funded through government contracts and invests on behalf of the wider US intelligence and defense community, keeping it a step removed from any single agency.
- Where is In-Q-Tel based?
- In-Q-Tel is headquartered in Tysons, Virginia, near Washington, DC, and runs a global investment platform with offices in Menlo Park, Cambridge, London, Munich, Singapore, and Sydney. From there it backs commercial startups in the United States and allied markets that match national-security technology needs.