Bluestaq takes in new minority owner

Bluestaq, a data management software startup, has sold a minority stake in itself to alternative asset manager One Bow River following the latter’s closure of an initial private equity fund at $500 million.

One Bow River National Defense Fund I is geared toward lower middle-market companies it sees as having technologies or tech-centric services of promise to the U.S. government.

The firm paid $50 million for its minority ownership in Bluestaq, which was founded in 2018 and designed its unified data library platform to help large organizations manage and harness that data.

Bluestaq completed this transaction on the heels of its selection in December for the company’s first health care contract, under which the company will prototype a data fabric for the Defense Health Agency.

Colorado Springs-headquartered Bluestaq is also one of 19 primes on a potential five-year, $900 million Space Force contract awarded in March 2023 for data analytics and software services. Bluestaq has recorded approximately $143.9 million in unclassified prime contract revenue over the trailing 12 months, according to USASpending.gov data.

In its March 4 release of the Bluestaq move, One Bow River said it is also waiting on a Small Business Administration review of approximately $10 million in limited partner commitments for the firm’s first fund.

One Bow River National Defense Fund I is part of an initial group of 18 funds with approval to participate in the Small Business Investment Company Critical Technologies Initiative. SBA and the Defense Department jointly run the SBICCT program to push for increased private capital investments in DOD’s 14 key technology areas.

Bluestaq’s main hub in Colorado Springs also is in the same city as the Catalyst Campus for Technology and Innovation, which was stood up in 2015 by Kevin O’Neil as a nonprofit business incubator for entrepreneurs looking to work with DOD.

One Bow River uses the Catalyst Campus as a mechanism for sourcing potential investment opportunities and other types of business relationships.

Colorado Springs is also home to Schriever and Peterson Space Force bases, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, Northern Command, Space Command, the Army’s Fort Carson base, and the Air Force Academy.

Winston & Strawn provided fund formation counsel to One Bow River.