Enigma Labs

Enigma Labs is a company that publishes a mobile application for submitting and reviewing sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), run from the domain enigmalabs.io. Fortune reported on it on July 13, 2022 in an article by Colin Lodewick under the headline "This startup wants to help organize your UFO sightings," quoting its founder, Alex Smith, from an interview with Bloomberg: "There was really no destination for credible information, data and sharing of expertise and insights." The article adds that "Enigma did not respond to Fortune's request for comment."¹

Funding as stated by the company

The company's own FAQ page changed its answer to "How are you funded?" between 2023 and 2024. The Prismic record behind the entry gives a first publication date of August 23, 2023 and a last publication date of January 24, 2024. The Internet Archive capture of enigmalabs.io/faq taken November 12, 2023 reads: "We are a venture backed startup. Our investors are people we have known for a long time. Our investors are collaborators, they are excited about our mission and support and follow us wherever we go. The company was created by veteran technologists who drive the strategy and product decisions, not investors."²

The capture of February 5, 2024 carries the revised entry: "To date, 100% of our funding is from startup investors. These include established venture capital funds like Lux Capital, Stellation, Glosso, Haystack, Kindred, Centre Street, Starburst, FJ Labs and also angel investors who understand how to design and scale great consumer products, including Ryan Shea, Ryan Hoover, Balaji Srinivasan, Jason Tan, Trevor McFedries, Elad Gil. Our investors are all US funds and citizens and are people we have known for a long time." The same text appears in the captures of January 14, 2025 and October 10, 2025.²

Government affiliation as stated by the company

The November 12, 2023 capture answers "Are you government-affiliated?" with: "Enigma is a startup and a private, independent company. We are not part of any country's government or military." It continues: "We speak on a regular basis with government entities, scientific groups, local law enforcement, aviation safety and pilot groups, and NGOs. We have not signed any government agreements or received government funding to date." A further paragraph states: "We are evaluating multiple partnerships, public and private."²

The February 5, 2024 capture divides the answer into labelled paragraphs. "Affiliation" repeats the statement that the company is not part of any government or military and adds: "We have no signed partnerships or collaborations to date." "Revenue" reads: "100% of our funding is from venture capital investors. We have not signed any government agreements or received government funding to date. We regularly explore science grants as well as SBIR opportunities (Small Business Innovation Research), where it could align with our goals." "Data" reads: "We have not passed any of our UAP sightings to any government." The January 14, 2025 capture adds to "Affiliation": "We do not operate on behalf of anyone."²

An FAQ entry titled "Why do Enigma Labs employees use pseudonyms?" (retitled "Why aren't Enigma Labs employees names listed?" by January 2025) states: "We are a private company, not a publicly funded group."²

Correspondence with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, 2022

On July 3, 2025 the Department of Defense Freedom of Information Division released 50 pages under case 23-F-0711 to John Greenewald of The Black Vault, in response to his request of April 13, 2023. The cover letter, signed by Pamela Andrews, Chief of the FOIA office, states that the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security located the 50 pages and that the Initial Denial Authority for the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) determined that portions are exempt under 5 U.S.C. 552 (b)(5) and (b)(6). Names of correspondents other than Sean Kirkpatrick and David Taylor are redacted. The company is identified in the pages by subject lines ("Enigma Discussion," "Re: Updated: [redacted] Enigma") and by signature blocks linking to enigmalabs.io.³

The chain begins, in its oldest quoted message, with an email of Tuesday, May 17, 2022 at 8:20 a.m. from "Taylor, David M SES OSD (USA)": "I am the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security at OSD. I got your contact from [redacted]. I've cc'd some folks who can answer your questions. Thanks R Dave." A later message of Tuesday, May 31, 2022 from a redacted sender reads: "Mr. Taylor asked me to connect with you to better understand the product you are offering. There is a fairly broad spectrum of activity covered under data collection, data-driven reporting, and analysis with regard to this problem set." The reply from the company side, partly redacted, reads: "this week detailing the push for standardized, data-driven, rational reporting. And the call for the new AOIMSG office to work with external partners on data collection and analytics. We have a team of 20 engineers, data scientists, and ex service vets with clearance who have built this rigorous product." Another company message offers: "I can invite our CTO and VP Product to share details if helpful," and asks: "Would you prefer a phone call or a zoom where we can show you our product?"³

A Zoom invitation in the release carries the topic "Enigma Discussion" and the time "Jul 20, 2022 08:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)"; the header of the message carrying it lists "Kirkpatrick, Sean M SES USSPACECOM J2 (USA)" and the subject "Re: Enigma Discussion."³

On Wednesday, July 27, 2022 at 9:25 p.m. Kirkpatrick, writing from an address headed "HQE USSPACECOM J2" (United States Space Command), replied to a follow-up from the company: "I'll let you know if I survive tomorrow-I've already been pulled down to the Hill everyday this week. I have been broaching the subject of public private partnerships with the Hill and they are very receptive. Talk with you after tomorrow." The company correspondent answered on Thursday, July 28, 2022 at 11:19 a.m.: "Understood. Fingers crossed on getting the PPP ball rolling and then we can start to demonstrate value. Let us know if you need anything else from us. Good luck on the Hill and talk soon."³

On Thursday, August 25, 2022 at 7:52 a.m. Kirkpatrick, now under an "OSD OUSD INTEL & SEC" address, wrote: "I've been in negotiations with my bosses on this. In order to ensure proper oversight and address legal concerns, I need to request if you could provide me a detail on how your processing and application removes and protects any PII from people submitting data. Would you be willing to provide that?" The company replied the same day at 11:16 a.m.: "Thanks for your note Sean. Happily, we have been working on exactly this," followed by a redacted passage and: "We would love to do a demo of that capability - week of Sept 12th onwards I will be able to join, if there's a good time?" On Tuesday, September 20, 2022 a company message stated: "We can show you our PII redaction pipeline that we've built for other partners - is there a good time next week, Wednesday or Thursday?"³

Scheduling messages of September 24 to 27, 2022 settle on a virtual call at 6 p.m. on Thursday, September 29. Kirkpatrick wrote on September 27: "Let's do 6. I will be returning from a meeting at Bolling. Is this a virtual call, or am I meeting up someplace?" The company correspondent replied that the company was "in NYC so it will be virtual" and added: "It would be great to meet in person soon though - I'll be in DC and VA, Oct 19 20th."³

A message quoted as written by Kirkpatrick on Sunday, October 2, 2022 at 11:48 a.m. gives "When: October 18, 2022 at 1:00:00 PM EDT." On Friday, October 14, 2022 a company message under the subject "Re: Updated: [redacted] Enigma" reads: "We are looking forward to meeting you next week. Can you confirm the address for this meeting below?" Kirkpatrick wrote on October 17, 2022: "We'll meet you in the lobby to bring you up." A later company message in the same chain says: "Hi Sean - we arrived a little early, in the lobby."³

A message to Kirkpatrick, undated in the visible text, reads "As promised, here is some background on the NASA program we touched on today" and gives links to a NASA announcement of NOIS-2 contract awardees and an Accenture Federal Services release on a 175 million dollar NASA crowdsourcing contract. Its signature block, and that of a further message, carry enigmalabs.io links. A message on page 3 of the release carries Kirkpatrick's signature block as "Director" of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office.³

Statements about the release

The Black Vault published the release with a write-up headed "FOIA Response Reveals Contact Between AARO and Enigma Labs, Details Remain Largely Redacted," which quotes the company's FAQ: "We are not part of any country's government or military. We have no signed partnerships or collaborations to date."⁴