CoVant
News
New firm looks to invest in defense technologies
Mar 7, 2008 by Melissa Frederick, The Examiner
WASHINGTON (Map, News) - CoVant Technologies plans to put money into technologies that help the defense and intelligence communities do their jobs better.
The new McLean-based company was founded by former executives from Anteon International, a military subcontractor, and by CI Capital Partners, a New York investment firm, which helped commit $200 million in equity to get it started.
CoVant announced its first acquisition this week of Fredericksburg, Va.-based A-T Solutions. A-T does training software for detecting explosives. Financial terms of the arrangement were not disclosed.
“There’s a growing demand for [explosives detection] at the federal, state and local level,” said Chief Executive Officer Joseph Kampf. CoVant will zero in on companies with technology that has an anti-terrorism focus, according to Kampf, and plans to announce additional acquisitions this year.
The recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have served as testing labs of sort for new defense technologies, according to Joel Van Over, a partner in Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP’s government contracts practice.
New developments have been necessary in everything from hands-free communication devices, visual displays, detection equipment and robotics, she said.