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FedTech is an accelerator that provides programs for startups working in deep technology to found their companies and put their products into the commercial market.
“Before I started doing work in this field, I was surprised to see that the U.S. government is really the biggest research and development investor in history,” Solomon said. “A lot of times those technologies can be really breakthrough and game changing for both commercial industry and even government use.”
FedTech was founded in 2015 after being a part of the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps program, according to its website. It also has offices in Austin, Texas, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, Solomon said.
Solomon based his company in Arlington because of its proximity to many government agencies, big companies like Amazon and local universities, graduates of which the company would “love to hire” as much as possible, he said.
The company connects smaller private businesses with bigger corporations and government agencies that can use their technology through partnerships.
FedTech is currently working with around 200 startups and these partnerships are “deeper than an investor or like a Shark Tank-type of investor,” Solomon said.
His company not only runs programs for startups that provide mentorship and training, but it also seeks out new technologies still being researched and brings those to entrepreneurs.
“If we find an invention in a research lab, we’ll go and recruit the founding team who can license that technology out of the research lab and create a new company around it, and we help that company be successful,” Solomon said.
FedTech also helps startups find customers and access capital. Its working relationships with startups can sometimes last for years, Solomon said.
“We’re really aiming to be a platform where we can be the best accelerator of early-stage technologies in the world,” he added.
FedTech usually does not own any stakes of the startups benefiting from its programs. It instead receives contracts from government departments like the Department of Defense and NASA, as well as other corporations like consumer goods company Proctor & Gamble and defense company BAE Systems.
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