On Tuesday, an auspicious deal announcement from the U.S. national intelligence community was made. BlueHalo, a private-equity backed provider of critical technologies and capabilities in space superiority, directed energy/counter-unmanned aerial systems (c-UAS), autonomy, advanced radio frequency (RF), cyber-intelligence, and signal intelligence (SIGINT) for high-level national security clients, announced that it is buying Asymmetrik, a pioneer in the rapidly-expanding market for open-source intelligence (OSINT) technologies.
Founded in 2008, Asymmetrik develops software and technology tools that power the intelligence community’s (IC) most advanced programs, specifically those that collect and analyze publicly available information (PAI). Asymmetrik’s domain expertise spans OSINT, artificial intelligence and machine learning, cryptocurrency, blockchain analytics, real-time streaming analytics, cybersecurity, and federated search. Its solutions have been successfully deployed across multiple agencies within the IC.
A statement from BlueHalo announcing the acquisition described Asymmetrik as “highly complementary to BlueHalo’s Cuber and SIGINT franchise, providing differentiated software development capabilities underpinned by a culture of excellence in engineering.” The deal is also expected to create a major player in OSINT technologies for the IC, with an array or products and capabilities based on PAI, and complementing National asset collection to create enriched data sets and actionable insights for intelligence professionals.
“Asymmetrik has built a world-class, mission-focused business on the foundation of its people and its culture. We could not be more thrilled to welcome the Asymmetrik team to BlueHalo as we bring our combined capabilities to bear solving some of the IC’s most challenging problems,” BlueHalo CEO Jonathan Moneymaker said in a statement on the deal. “The combination of Asymmetrik’s and BlueHalo’s deep technical capabilities, cultures of excellence, and focus on the mission will only further enhance our ability to serve our customers’ most important and complex needs.”
“Asymmetrik has earned the trust of the IC’s most demanding customers by creating software that addresses the hardest challenges in OSINT collection and analysis,” said Henry Albers, Vice President at Arlington Capital Partners, the D.C.-area private equity manager of around $4 billion in client assets. “With access to BlueHalo’s extensive resources, infrastructure, and past performance, we believe the company is well-positioned to capitalize on numerous growth opportunities.”
“We are excited to welcome the next chapter of the Asymmetrik story under the banner of BlueHalo and provide our new and existing customers a more expansive set of tools, capabilities, and resources driving a tangible impact to the critical and ever-evolving mission at hand,” Asymmetrik Co-Founders Amit Singh and Mike Frentz, who serve as CTO and CEO, respectively, said. “We could not have found a better partner in BlueHalo where together, we will continue to tackle the most challenging problems our customers are facing.”
Earlier this month, BlueHalo acquired San Diego-based Citadel Defense Company, a developer of counter-unmanned aerial systems technology for end-users at the Department of Intelligence and IC, along with civilian, commercial and international markets.
