Magnet Forensics strengthens ties with U.S. intelligence community, lands investment 

Waterloo Region’s Magnet Forensics announced today that it is entering a partnership with In-Q-Tel, Inc. (IQT), a not-for-profit strategic investor supporting the mission of the U.S. intelligence community.

“Our strategic partnership with IQT and, in turn, the U.S. intelligence community will help us better understand the evolving nature of crime, and the digital evidence associated with it,” said Magnet Forensics founder and CTO Jad Saliba in a statement released by the company. “[With IQT’s partnership] we can continue to innovate and provide the tools required by law enforcement and the national security community.”

The company, traditionally shy of outside investment, could be partnering with IQT to deepen its network in the massive U.S. national security and intelligence community, potentially widening its pool of customers.

“Magnet Forensics has shown itself to be an innovator in the development of tools to support recovery of critical digital evidence,” Simon Davidson, Managing Partner at IQT, said in a statement. “We are proud to partner with Magnet Forensics to expand the capabilities of its existing products for use by IQT partners, and create new tools that help keep communities safe.”

I the size of the IQT investment was not disclosed.

Magnet started as a hobby project; Saliba, then a police officer with a knack for programming, created a product that recovered and structured data people had tried to delete from the internet. He gave it freely to police departments, and the product – now called the Magnet Internet Evidence Finder (IEF) – was extremely well received. It was so popular, that in 2011 Saliba quit his job, brought former BlackBerry executive Adam Belsher on as CEO and started charging for the IEF. Magnet Forensics was born.

Just three years later, in 2014, Belsher told Communitech News the company boasted 40 employees, zero outside funding, a global customer base and revenue in the double-digit millions. Partnering with IQT continues the company’s meteoric rise.

“We are driven by our mission,” said Saliba. “[T]o support law enforcement and public safety organizations by providing them the tools they need to uncover the truth.”

Read more news about Magnet Forensics here.