A bit more about Meter.
All,
A few of you asked to hear a little more about our portfolio company, Meter, after the short highlight in our previous note.
Meter is a ML/AI-enabled platform that, in this instance, enhances the procurement process for government employees by quickly analyzing past government contracting information (called “market research” in Federal contracting parlance) to provide insights enabling a more efficient and robust vendor research process. The company has reached a new agreement with the Department of Homeland Security Procurement Innovation Lab, a DHS initiative that seeks to improve Federal acquisition. The agreement includes a contract vehicle of up to $9 million and allows Meter to sell directly to any Federal agency.
This new contract builds on our long-standing relationship with DHS and is a model for how Hangar leverages our deep Federal, state, and local knowledge to incubate solutions for our government customers that can then scale. During Meter’s inception, Hangar conducted an agile user discovery process with representatives from 14 agencies to develop a minimum viable product that enhances the government’s ability to quickly and efficiently procure everything from office supplies to cutting-edge software. The Federal Government funded a significant portion of Hangar’s work to develop that MVP, an effort led by Hangar team members Matt Lira and Max Batt.
Importantly, while tailored for Federal procurement officers, initial discussions demonstrate the potential for value add within private-sector companies that sell to the government, given that they also navigate a similar process and hurdles in order to secure government contracts. Meter is in exploratory discussions with a handful of Fortune 500 companies to begin pilot programs with their procurement teams.
Meter now must advance from prototype to production software in short order. While the government funded the initial exploration and development work, and then offered a significant contract for such a young company, we could not bridge this development gap without investing our own working capital. Realities such as this one remain an ongoing barrier for startups hoping to work with government, but provide yet another example of exactly how Hangar’s unique approach and structure matters.
At Hangar, we are uniquely situated to build alongside our companies’ first customers, as we did here. That, taken with continued market uncertainty and increased government spending, proves again why Hangar’s model is positioned for success.
As ever, thank you for your support. We look forward to continuing to send more positive updates — and please keep the questions coming.
Josh & the Hangar Team