How were Smartmatic and Dominion founded and who are their major owners?
Executive summary
Smartmatic was founded in the early 2000s by Venezuelan engineers Antonio (Antonia/Antonio variant appears in sources) Mugica and Roger Piñate and is reported to be majority‑owned by the founders’ families (Smartmatic has said founders’ families—Mugica and Piñate—hold the majority; earlier company disclosure listed Antonio Mugica 78.8%, Roger Piñate 8.47%, Jorge Massa Dustou 5.97%, Alfredo Anzola 3.87%) [1] [2]. Dominion Voting Systems is a separate Canadian‑founded company that later purchased Sequoia assets; both companies and independent fact‑checks state there is no ownership or corporate tie between Smartmatic and Dominion [3] [2] [4].
1. Founding stories: two separate origin narratives
Smartmatic traces its origins to Venezuelan software engineers who built election‑technology products and incorporated in the U.S.; several accounts say founders include Antonio/Antonia Mugica and Roger Piñate and that the company was incorporated in Florida before establishing international headquarters [5] [6]. Dominion Voting Systems began as a different entity in Canada and later expanded into the U.S.; Dominion acquired Sequoia’s physical and intellectual assets in 2010, after Sequoia had at one point been owned by Smartmatic and then sold under regulatory review [3].
2. Ownership: who controls Smartmatic
Public records and Smartmatic’s own statements indicate the Mugica and Piñate families hold the majority of Smartmatic shares, with employees and other investors holding a minor share, and corporate disclosures from an earlier period listed Antonio Mugica as the dominant shareholder (78.8%), Roger Piñate ~8.47%, Jorge Massa Dustou ~5.97% and Alfredo Anzola ~3.87%, with employee holdings around 2.89% [1] [2]. Smartmatic’s corporate pages reiterate that the founders’ families are the principal owners and that the company has no ties to certain frequently alleged external investors [2].
3. Dominion’s ownership and what it bought from Sequoia
Dominion is a separate company; in 2010 Dominion acquired substantial assets of Sequoia Voting Systems — including intellectual property and hardware — after Sequoia had previously been acquired by, then divested from, Smartmatic following a U.S. CFIUS review [3]. Dominion and Smartmatic both state they never had an ownership relationship or business partnership; multiple independent fact‑checks and both companies deny any financial ties or software sharing between them [3] [2] [4].
4. Conflicting claims and how they arose
Confusion stems from the fact that Smartmatic bought Sequoia in 2005 and later sold it (CFIUS pressured the sale), and that Dominion later acquired Sequoia assets in 2010 — a transactional chain that has been portrayed inaccurately as continuous ownership or as a direct transfer of corporate control [3]. Fact‑checkers and both companies have repeatedly pushed back against claims that Dominion and Smartmatic are the same company or that one owns the other [4] [7].
5. Legal and reputational fallout that amplified narratives
After the 2020 U.S. election, high‑profile allegations tied Smartmatic and Dominion to vote manipulation circulated widely; both firms sued or threatened legal action against defamatory broadcasters and individuals, and news outlets and courts have found many viral claims to be false. Smartmatic and Dominion issued public denials of ownership ties; AP and Reuters fact‑checks concluded no ownership relationship exists [4] [8]. These lawsuits and denials helped sharpen public distinctions between the companies even as misinformation spread [9].
6. What sources agree on and what remains contested
Available reporting and company statements consistently agree Smartmatic and Dominion are separate companies and that Smartmatic’s principal owners are its founders’ families [2] [4]. Sources differ in finer historical wording: some archival materials note Smartmatic once owned Sequoia and still retained certain IP rights or notes around those transactions, which helps explain later confusion about “transfers” of technology [3] [10]. Claims that George Soros or other political actors own Smartmatic or Dominion are rejected by both companies and by fact‑checkers [2] [4].
7. Limitations and what the sources don’t say
Available sources do not provide up‑to‑the‑minute, audited cap‑table documents for Smartmatic or a current public list of all shareholders; the exact present‑day percentages beyond company statements and earlier disclosures are not fully documented in the material provided here (not found in current reporting). Some fringe sites allege deleted press releases or deliberate scrubbing; these claims are contested and not substantiated in mainstream reporting provided [11] [7].
Conclusion: The documented corporate trail shows Smartmatic’s founders and their families as the main owners of Smartmatic and a transactional link — not ownership — between Smartmatic, Sequoia and Dominion’s later purchase of Sequoia assets. Multiple independent fact‑checks and company statements insist there is no ownership relationship between Smartmatic and Dominion [3] [2] [4].