DeVenCI Coding

From c|net and the New York Times comes this report on DeVenCI (for Defense Venture Catalyst Initiative), a program that recently emerged from an experimental phase.

The Defense Department is using some of the nation's top technology investors to help it find innovations from tiny start-up companies, which have not traditionally been a part of the military's vast supply chain. For the investors, it is a chance to get closer to a branch of government with vast spending power that is a potential customer for the start-ups they have backed.

Bob Pohanka is the director of DeVenCI. The following VCs were selected last October:
Tom Banahan (Lehman Brothers Venture Partners)
James Barrett (New Enterprise Associates)
Kevin Fong (Mayfield Fund)
Wilber James (RockPort Capital Partners)
Mark Kvamme (Sequoia Capital)
Jeb Miller (ComVentures)
Roger Novak (Novak Biddle Venture Partners)
Don Rainey (Intersouth Partners)
Morgan Rodd (Arrowpath Venture Partners)
Ted Schlein (Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers)
Robert Simon (Alta Partners)

See the program Overview (pdf) for the program history and objectives, the National Venture Capital Association (pdf) for their take on the program, and FedBizOpps for registration and search.