Katie Gray does not measure success in the same way as most corporate venture capitalists. As a partner at In-Q-Tel (IQT), the non-profit strategic investment unit of the US intelligence community and potentially the most active strategic investor in the world with more than 50 deals per year, many of her investments are not disclosed to the public and securing a high return through an acquisition or an IPO, while important, may not be their main purpose.
“My greatest success will be when a technology I have invested in helps further the mission of the intelligence community in a meaningful way, saving lives or helping to thwart the plans of those that threaten the US people or way of life,” she said.
The unique connection to US agencies, such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), is what gives her a sense of purpose in her role as she is passionate about supporting those protecting the country. She joined the organisation on a part time basis in 2011 to help with outreach and deal sourcing before transitioning to a full-time role in 2015 and being appointed partner in 2016.
Gray is currently focused on investments in imaging technology, batteries, additive manufacturing, and cybersecurity. In addition to deal sourcing, she negotiates contracts, attends board meetings and reports on market and technology trends and, according to a colleague, been “crushing it” in her performance.
Since going full-time after spending some time raising her children, Gray has led on 13 investments with only three being disclosed. The first was a 2015 investment in Sila Nanotechnologies, a company using engineered materials to improve energy storage. This was followed in 2016 by a strategic partnership with Algorithmia, the operator of an algorithm network for app developers, which received an undisclosed sum in return for providing US government agencies access to its platform.
The third investment was another strategic partnership in March 2017, this time with a developer of composite additive manufacturing technology called Arevo. In a statement announcing the deal, Gray said: “Our partnership with Arevo will enable IQT’s customers to stay ahead of the curve in developing new devices critical to our nation’s security.”
Investing at IQT not only has unique measures of success but also unique difficulties. One of the biggest challenges Gray has faced is building relationships within intelligence agencies, especially when they are mostly located on the east coast of the US while she lives on the west coast.
“The agencies are by nature guarded with information and often the only place technology needs and use cases can be discussed is in secure spaces,” she said.
Prior to IQT, Gray joined the founding team of a startup in 2000 straight after graduating from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. The startup, Bluelark, developed a web browser for the Palm operating system and was acquired by personal digital assistant maker Handspring in 2002. She went on to work as a senior product manager at Handspring and continued in that role when the company was subsequently acquired by Palm before moving to part-time and consultant work in 2005.
George Hoyem, the managing partner at IQT who nominated Gray as a Rising Star, said her previous experience has been a great asset in her role at the firm.
“Katie’s roots in product management gives her great patience and skills to assess technologies, entrepreneurs and strategic fit for these solutions into the IQT intelligence community customers we serve,” Hoyem said. “She has quickly honed her skills in this area and is delivering great value to our government partners and portfolio companies.”
Other roles that Gray has filled at various points throughout her career include parent-teacher association (PTA) treasurer, district educational foundation board member and egg farmer. When not working she enjoys running half marathons, skiing, hiking, cooking, gardening and caring for her five chickens.
Considering the future, she wants to continue to grow in her current role. However, she is also tempted by the idea of working on another startup one day, once her children are grown, as her experience at Bluelark was one of the best of her career. “I loved the focus on developing first product and the camaraderie of an early stage venture,” she said.
Gray believes that her startup experience is one her assets and that the corporate venture capital industry could be strengthened by hiring more investors who have either started companies themselves or joined them at an early stage.
She added: “Since I have gotten involved in the CVC world, I have been impressed with the openness of CVCs generally to share knowledge and dealflow. Improving information sharing and networking among CVCs would also make the industry stronger across the board.”