# Red Cell Partners

> Red Cell Partners is a McLean, Virginia incubation and investment firm that builds technology companies from scratch in healthcare, cyber, and national security. Founded in 2020 by Grant Verstandig, Josh Lobel, and John Tenet, it borrows its name and method from the CIA's post-9/11 Red Cell - the contrarian unit tasked with challenging conventional wisdom. Rather than waiting for founders to pitch, Red Cell generates the idea, writes the first check, staffs the team, and spins out companies like Epirus, Andesite, and Zephyr AI.

- **Founded:** 2020
- **Headquarters:** McLean, Virginia, United States
- **Founders:** Grant Verstandig (Founder, Chairman & CEO), Josh Lobel (Co-Founder), John Tenet (Co-Founder)
- **Team size:** ~74-92 full-time employees (firm level, 2026)
- **Products:** Incubation Studio, Strategic Investments, Operational Support, Epirus, Andesite
- **Notable:** Built a portfolio of nearly 20 companies, most incubated internally, since 2020., Roughly $600M raised across the firm and its incubations., Averages about 16 months from initial funding to a company's first outside capital raise.

## Products & services

- **Incubation Studio** — Generates early-stage company concepts in-house, shapes them to market needs, provides Day-One capital, and recruits founding teams to build and spin out companies.
- **Strategic Investments** — Direct investments in outside deep-tech companies across healthcare, cyber, and national security, including Epirus, Red 6, and Envisagenics.
- **Operational Support** — Shared engineering, product, talent, legal, compliance, and go-to-market resources provided to portfolio companies through their full lifecycle.
- **Epirus** — Incubated/backed defense company building high-power microwave systems with counter-electronics effects to protect against emerging threats.
- **Andesite** — AI-driven security operations company - 'the AI SOC that puts humans at the helm' - co-developed with General Catalyst.
- **Zephyr AI** — Healthcare AI company applying machine learning to drug discovery and better patient outcomes.

## Achievements

- Built a portfolio of nearly 20 companies, most incubated internally, since 2020.
- Roughly $600M raised across the firm and its incubations.
- Averages about 16 months from initial funding to a company's first outside capital raise.
- Co-founder Grant Verstandig previously scaled Rally Health past $1B in revenue before its acquisition by UnitedHealth Group.
- Portfolio includes Epirus (high-power microwave defense) and Andesite (AI security operations).

## Latest updates

- **2025-11** — Portfolio company Crux emerged from stealth with $6.5M in funding, launching a no-cost benefit to make quality-of-life medications more affordable.
- **2025-02** — Andesite raised a $23M round, bringing its total funding to roughly $38M.
- **2024-03** — Launched Eyris, a cybersecurity company offering blockchain and quantum-resistant data protection for the DoD, Intelligence Community, and private sector.

## Links

- Website: https://redcellpartners.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/red-cell-partners
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/RedCellPartners
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redcellpartners/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086911573772

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/red-cell-partners
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-16