The private equity firm AE Industrial Partners (AEI) on Tuesday said it has merged two of its data analytics and advanced information technology portfolio companies, NuWave Solutions and PCI Strategic Management, and renamed the scaled-up entity BigBear.ai, which it calls a leader in “decision dominance” solutions.
BigBear.ai, which has more than 550 employees, is led by CEO Reggie Brothers, who was NuWave’s CEO, and Vice Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer Sean Battle, who was PCI’s co-founder and CEO. The company is based in Columbia, Md., and has seven office locations in the U.S.
AEI acquired NuWave last June and installed Brothers, who previously was the chief technology officer at Peraton, as its CEO. At the time, NuWave had 70 employees developing software in the areas of data analytics and artificial intelligence for federal government customers and defense customers.
In December, NuWave began to build out its portfolio with the acquisitions of BigBear Inc., which added cloud and additional data analytics capabilities as well as customers in DoD and the intelligence community. That deal was followed shortly after by the acquisition of ProModel Government Services, which is strong in predictive and prescriptive analytics and also has customers with DoD and the national security community.
AEI acquired PCI last October. PCI had about 350 employees and brought expertise in cloud engineering and enterprise IT, cyber security, computer network operations, wireless, data analytics, visualization, systems engineering, strategy and planning.
“This combination is a game changer for the industry,” Brothers said in a statement. “BigBear.ai offers unmatched artificial intelligence, analytics, cyber and data management tools tailored specifically to the national security communities, giving our customers ‘decision dominance.’ The company’s comprehensive and seamless approach to handling and analyzing data allows our customers to better manage risk and be more prepared for the future.”
Jeffrey Hart, principal at AEI, said that BigBear.ai is “positioned to address the growing threats of hybrid warfare.” Hybrid warfare refers to the integration of conventional military power with irregular warfare such as cyber.