Smart money: The venture capitalists who stake intelligence technology

摘要

Late last year, a small Alabama defense firm hit the big leagues. Founded in 1989, Chandler/May makes UAVs and UAV ground stations. Sales took off in the mid-2000s as the military's desire for unmanned aerial technology hit a fever pitch. After notching 600 percent growth in seven years, the company was acquired in 2012 by Lockheed Martin. No one is saying the price, but it was understood to be a mammoth deal. Chandler/May's remarkable transformation from small ISR specialist to a division of the world's biggest defense contracting firm was not an act of chance. Behind the scenes, like a kind of Henry Higgins of the world of intelligence technology, was a venture capital fund named Arlington Capital Partners. In 2005, Arlington bought a majority stake in Chandler/May from the founders, Jesse May and Jay Chandler. The new part-owners carefully built up the firm. Arlington acquired other intelligence and drone business to tuck into it, to grow it. Like a patient gardener, Arlington had encouraged the business, invested in it, trimmed where it could. And then, it brought Chandler/May to market.