A year after its launch, here’s how Arlington’s Two Six Technologies is growing in the govtech space

Just a year after its debut, Arlington, Virginia national security tech firm Two Six Technologies has a lot to celebrate on its first anniversary.

The origin story of Two Six dates back only to February 2021, when an affiliate of DC-based global investment firm The Carlyle Group acquired NoVa tech firms IST Research and Two Six Labs to create the company. Two Six Technologies, helmed by 20-year Booz Allen Hamilton exec Joe Logue, is a national security tech company for players like the intelligence community and Department of Defense. Before the merge, IST focused on open-source data collection as well as engagement, and Two Six Labs was based in cybersecurity, primarily.

Together, the combined Two Six has managed to make a splash in its short life. Logue said the company has seen a 50% increase in revenue year over year and expanded its contract portfolio to $650 million (although it actually handled close to $850 million, since some have already closed, according to the CEO). The company’s team has also bloomed to 500 people and in August the company also made its first acquisition: Herndon, Virginia IT company Trusted Concepts.

“We want to do everything we can to help the US government and the intelligence community,” Logue said. “Starting from over here for information operations and influence up through cyber, command control and operations.”

In its everyday operations, Two Six has four main products: a SaaS system called Sigma, a data encryption platform called TrustedKeep, a data analytics tool for the military called IKE, and Pulse, a cloud tool for human security. Pulse, which was created by IST, is a global deployment network for communicating with hard-to-reach populations worldwide to help mitigate issues like human trafficking.

The broad reach of its services is part of the reason the company has been able to grow. Between the cyber command and services and intelligence community members, Logue said one of its programs, IKE, has 9,000 users. But what makes the company unique, he noted, is that it works on a number of prime contracts with the federal government, so it’s not limited to working on only tech that meets contract requirements.

“We’re a prime contractor on almost everything, which is incredibly unique for a small company,” Logue said. “It’s just usually not that way. Small companies are usually accepted onto one of the large primes and you’re kind of beholden to the primes. It’s not that case with us. We’re in the opposite position, which is a nice place to be.”

This approach, Logue said, is another the reason for the company’s huge growth. With a more commercial-oriented structure, he said the company can avoid some of the bureaucracies of government contractors that can slow down timelines. With this in mind, he’s hoping for even more growth and acquisitions in 2022, although he noted that the company is still very intentional about who it works with and the projects it takes on. (PS, even after reaching 500 employees, Two Six is still hiring for local and remote workers.)

“We’re not just growing to grow,” Logue said. “We’re growing because our products and expertise are what’s needed right now and we’re running full speed, but we’re not taking on efforts that don’t belong here.”