Yes, it would not be unreasonable to say that funding originating from In-Q-Tel has "CIA roots".

If someone claimed to have a CIA background solely on the basis that In-Q-Tel funded their mapping software, they'd be a charlatan. Just as a guy selling toilet paper to the CIA is not necessarily someone embedded in the intelligence community.

> Being founded with funding from the CIA's venture capital arm seems tantamount to "CIA roots"

For the company, it’s a stretch but tenable. Saying the “founder has CIA roots” solely because they took an In-Q-Tel cheque is just wrong.

We have taken funding from In-Q-Tel, yes. The idea that taking funding from IQT amounts to "CIA roots" is preposterous: aside from the fact that IQT writes very small checks (<$1M), an IQT investment does not necessarily even denote that the federal government is a customer. IQT develops a work program with its government affiliates (the identities of which are opaque to portfolio companies), and the sale of any product to any government entity happens outside of IQT; the presence of IQT is merely to help startups fund (and deliver) features that are of special interest to the government affiliates.

And as long as I'm elaborating on IQT, let me add that they have been a terrific partner for us -- and we have found the individuals we have worked with there to be of exceptionally high character.