Pasadena AI Firm Virtualitics Opens Virginia Office Near Its Defense Customers

An AI company that grew out of a Caltech astronomy lab a decade ago now has another address 2,300 miles east of its South Lake Avenue offices.

Virtualitics, headquartered in Pasadena since its founding in 2016, has signed a 3,000-square-foot office lease at Reston Station in Reston, Virginia, according to a joint press release from the company and the development’s owner, Comstock Holding Companies.

The new office places Virtualitics among the defense contractors and federal agencies concentrated in Northern Virginia — a region central to the company’s growing government business.

The company builds AI-powered platform applications that turn complex data into insights for enterprise and government decision-making, with technology rooted in research at Caltech and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The Reston lease comes amid an expansion phase for the company. In October 2024, Virtualitics secured a five-year, $46 million-plus contract with the U.S. Air Force to deploy AI-driven maintenance applications across weapon systems sustainment units. In May 2026, the company announced a memorandum of understanding with OpenAI to integrate frontier AI models into its Iris readiness platform. That same month, Virtualitics named Kristy Friedrichs, a former Palo Alto Networks and New Relic executive, as chief operating officer.

“Northern Virginia is a critical hub for the communities we serve,” Friedrichs said in the press release. “Establishing our Reston office strengthens our ability to collaborate more closely with customers, recruit exceptional talent, and continue scaling the delivery of our AI readiness capabilities that support mission success.”

The office will be at 1900 Reston Metro Plaza, a 16-story tower within Reston Station, an approximately 90-acre mixed-use development surrounding the Wiehle-Reston East station on Metro’s Silver Line.

Comstock, which developed the property, describes Reston Station as among the largest and most prominent mixed-use, transit-oriented developments in the Mid-Atlantic region. Google, Booz Allen Hamilton, ICF International and CARFAX maintain offices there, according to Comstock.

“We are pleased to welcome Virtualitics to Reston Station,” Tim Steffan, chief operating officer of Comstock, said in the press release. “As organizations increasingly seek highly connected, amenity-rich environments that support innovation and collaboration, Reston Station continues to attract industry-leading companies.”

Virtualitics was founded by Michael Amori, a Caltech alumnus and former Deutsche Bank managing director; George Djorgovski, a Caltech professor of astronomy and data science; and Ciro Donalek, a computational scientist at Caltech’s Center for Data-Driven Discovery.

The company reportedly obtained an exclusive license from Caltech, which manages JPL, and built its platform on visualization and machine-learning techniques originally developed for analyzing deep-space data.

The privately held firm has raised more than $73 million in venture funding, according to Tracxn, including a $37 million Series C round led by Smith Point Capital in 2023. It employs between 100 and 200 people, according to multiple tracking firms.

Three thousand square feet may be a modest footprint — enough for a small team rather than a regional headquarters. But for a company whose government contracts require close coordination with Pentagon officials and agency program managers, the proximity matters more than the square footage.