IQT | Orbit, Operations, and the Fast Track to the Front: October 2026
IQT | Orbit, Operations, and the Fast Track to the Front: October 2026
Closing the gap between commercial innovation and the warfighter
Mission Impact & Community Updates🫱🏻🫲🏼
IQT is proud to announce a new partnership with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of War for Critical Technologies (OASW(CT)) to bring cutting-edge commercial technology from non-traditional performers to the warfighter.
Through this agreement, OASW(CT) gains structured access to IQT’s global technology-scouting network and early-stage portfolio. That access will help the office identify, validate, and transition solutions faster across all six Critical Technology Areas, closing the gap between commercial breakthroughs and deployed military capability.
Visit our YouTube channel to watch the full five-video series with Honorable Dodd, and click below to read the full announcement by the Department of War.
IQT’s Career Fair Season Has Started!
Want to work with us? We're heading to campuses and conferences across the country to meet the people looking to build what's next. If you're curious about national security technology, venture investing, or the intersection of the two, come find us.
Upcoming Fairs:
📍 Society of Women Engineers Conference (Nov. 5-7)
📍 Supercomputing Conference (Nov. 15-20)
📍 National Society of Black Engineers Convention (March 31-April 4, 2027)
We hope to see you there!
New to Our Library 📚
IQT Explains: The Takeoff of Commercial Space Infrastructure ft. Vast
In this episode of IQT Explains, IQT VP of Technology Jenny Irvine is joined by Vast CEO Max Haot to explore the future of off-earth development, spanning power, compute, habitats, and orbital logistics.
From launching Haven-1, targeted to be the world’s first commercial space station, to deploying high-powered satellite platforms, Vast is building the foundational infrastructure to enable long-term human presence and operations in space.
When Every Hour Counts, Startups Need a Fast Track to the Front Lines
In Ukraine, getting a wounded soldier to advanced care can take days, sometimes more than a week. In Iraq and Afghanistan, it often took about an hour. That shift is changing what battlefield medical technology has to do.
In our latest blog, IQT’s technology team explains why promising commercial medical devices rarely get stress-tested for the front lines until it’s too late to change them. They make the case for connecting startups with operational end-users early in development. The payoff is gear that’s tougher, simpler to use, and better for warfighters and civilian emergency care alike.
IQT Quarterly Recap: Summer 2026
This summer, innovation turned up the heat. Catch up on IQT’s latest quarter in our Summer 2026 Quarterly Recap, which covers our newest portfolio companies, fresh perspectives on frontier technology, and where IQT showed up around the world.
Portfolio Spotlights 📰
Locus Lock Raises Strategic Funding to Accelerate Access to Software-Defined GNSS
September 24, 2026: Locus Lock raised a strategic round to bring its software-defined GNSS technology to more engineers. Its receivers deliver resilient positioning in jammed and spoofed environments across air, ground, maritime, and space, and the funding supports the October launch of its Leo200 receiver platform.
Read Locus Lock's press release
Sensible Biotechnologies Secures $47 Million to Advance Naturally Modified mRNA Platform and Unlock Next Generation of mRNA Medicines
October 6, 2026: Sensible Biotechnologies secured $47 million to scale its VECTOR platform, which uses living cells to produce naturally modified mRNA and aims to extend mRNA beyond vaccines into a wider range of therapeutics.
Defense Startup Watchtower Launches With $35M To Tackle Logistics Nightmares
October 21, 2026: Watchtower Labs came out of stealth with $35 million. Its software pairs AI with large-scale simulation to help military planners make faster, better-informed logistics decisions, replacing work still done in spreadsheets and email.
Read Watchtower's press release
Across every domain, from cyber and biotech to energy and manufacturing, the common thread is mission impact: technologies that strengthen the people and systems protecting the nation. Thank you for being part of the IQT community.
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