Mach 37

MACH37

Type	Division
Industry	Venture capital
Founded	2013
Headquarters	Herndon, Virginia, United States
Number of locations	1 office (2016)
Key people	Rick Gordon, Dan Woolley, Tom Weithman, David Ihrie, Ed Albrigo, Ledger West, Robert Stratton, John Trauth.
Products	Investments
Website	www.mach37.com

MACH37 is an American seed accelerator and a division of the Virginia-based Center for Innovative Technology which receives financial support from the Virginia State Government. MACH37 focuses primarily on providing emerging companies in the cyber security industry with access to investment capital and an immediate customer base. The name is a reference to the escape velocity of Earth's atmosphere.

MACH37's accelerator program consists of two 90-day sessions per year aiming to host 5-8 cyber security startup companies. The sessions are known as Cohorts and are hosted at the Center for Innovative Technology's office in Herndon, Virginia. Like other accelerator programs, they provide participants with seed money, advice, and connections in exchange for equity. Upon acceptance, companies receive an initial investment of $50,000 for the cost of an 8% stake in the company. The purpose of the money is to fund development and living expenses for the duration of the program which requires extensive on-site participation at the MACH37 facility.

The 90 days of each Cohort are meant to be an intense period of design, development, and criticism with the ultimate goal of giving a successful presentation in front of a panel of potential investors during what is known as Demo Day. In an interview with Washington Business Journal, CIT chief Pete Jobse stated "What the accelerator is designed to do is make sure the concepts [and] the markets that appear to be interesting for these new technologies are actually there for them".

As a state-funded program, MACH37 has been seen as an opportunity for emerging technology companies to gain access to government contracts relating to cyber security. MACH37 is supported by Governor Terry McAuliffe, who initiated a memorandum of understanding between MACH37 and the University of Virginia's College at Wise. However, McAuliffe has also expressed a desire to transition ownership share to private corporations such as Amazon Web Services, one of MACH37's sponsors.