Carillon Technologies Raises Initial Funding Round

Carillon Technologies today announced an initial round of funding. Carillon’s mission is to assist the U.S. Government and government contractors in accelerating the identification, adaption and deployment of advanced commercial technologies.

Based in Arlington, Va., Carillon is led by CEO Dr. John D. Evans. Before founding Carillon, Evans served as Lockheed Martin’s Corporate Vice President, Technology and Innovation, where, in addition to national security priorities, he was responsible for commercial areas such as autonomous systems and health care. He has served on the boards of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the Innovation Research Interchange (IRI).

“The need to rapidly identify and deploy commercial technology is one of the key challenges faced by government and represents one of the principal national security challenges of our time,” said Evans. “To address this challenge, Carillon will partner with both government and government contractors in key areas like tactical communications, advanced autonomous systems, directed energy and space technology.” 

According to R&D Magazine, only about 6% of global R&D is performed for the U.S. Government, and the 2018 National Defense Strategy warns that the challenge of keeping up with rapidly advancing commercial technology “risks eroding the conventional overmatch to which our Nation has grown accustomed.”

Adm. William Owens, Chairman of the Carillon Technologies Advisory Board and former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, former CEO of Nortel Networks and Teledesic, and former President of SAIC, notes that “Carillon is answering a call to national service. By bringing together a team that deeply understands both commercial and government markets, we can help ensure that those that serve America have access to the same technologies that Americans enjoy in their homes and businesses every day.”

Carillon Technologies is a spinout of Bellevue, Wash.-based Intellectual Ventures’ (IV) Invention Science Fund and launches with an initial portfolio of nearly 300 patents and patents-pending, including portions of IV’s groundbreaking metamaterials portfolio. 

“The technologies Carillon has licensed are truly revolutionary,” said Nathan Myhrvold, CEO and co-founder of IV and former Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft. “Metamaterials technologies have been under development at IV since 2004 and our companies based on that technology have collectively raised nearly $300M in venture funding.”