Sentinel Ventures

Sentinel Ventures is a Washington, DC-based early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2021 with a sharply focused mandate: investing in innovative technologies that secure and enhance critical infrastructure for the United States and allied nations. The firm is led by Managing Partners Ben Katz and Cameron Watts, with Partner David Magli and two Directors who bring deep national-security operating experience — Sean Plankey, who held senior roles at the White House National Security Council and the Department of Energy on energy and cybersecurity policy, and Clif Triplett, a veteran enterprise and federal Chief Information Security Officer. That bench gives Sentinel an unusual depth of Washington-level national-security and critical infrastructure expertise that is explicitly positioned as a value-add for founders navigating federal procurement and public-sector partnerships. Sentinel invests in early-stage companies at or beyond proof-of-concept, targeting cybersecurity, data analytics, AI, quantum computing, and operational-resiliency applications across power, water, telecom, transportation, and other critical infrastructure verticals. The firm prioritises companies based in the United States or among US allies, and typically partners with founders on commercialisation pathways into critical infrastructure operators and the public sector. Checks range from $500,000 to $3 million at seed and Series A. The most visible disclosed portfolio investment to date is SimpliContract (contract lifecycle management SaaS, April 2023). Sentinel's strategic differentiation is its combination of investor capital and authentic government-sector credibility: the partners' backgrounds across the White House, Department of Energy, and enterprise CISO roles translate directly into the customer relationships, procurement navigation, and accreditation pathways that critical-infrastructure technology founders most need.