AFVentures Selects Holos for $1.8M TACFI Contract, Matching $1.8M in VC Funds to Scale Platform Across the U.S. Air Force
May 24th, 2023 – HOLOS, INC. announces it has been selected by AFVENTURES for a Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) Contract, an implementation of the U.S. Air Force SBIR/STTR Supplemental Funding Pilot Program in the amount of 1.8 Million USD focused on Virtual Reality software development to investigate its potential to fill capability gaps in the Department of the Air Force (DAF).
The Air Force Research Laboratory and AFWERX have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) process by accelerating the small business experience through a faster proposal to award timelines, changing the pool of potential applicants by expanding opportunities to small business and losing bureaucratic overhead by continually implementing process improvement changes in contract execution.
The DAF began offering 'The Open Topic' SBIR/STTR program in 2018 which expanded the range of innovations the DAF funded and now on May 24th, 2023, Holos will continue the success of its Phase II SBIR efforts through the TACFI program in its journey to create and provide innovative capabilities that will strengthen the national defense of the United States of America.
With this funding in hand for the next two years, Holos will be able to perform last-mile product developments and integrate with Dynepic's MOTAR platform, the secure backbone for training delivery across the US Air Force. This will enable a new class of users across the USAF to rapidly create, remix, and share immersive VR training experiences.
"This is a significant milestone towards deploying Holos as one of the de-facto VR training creation tools for delivery across the U.S. Air Force, putting the management of these virtual exercises directly into the hands of our Airmen," said Daniel Borkhus, Co-Founder and CEO of Holos. "Crossing the 'Valley of Death' and taking a technology from R&D to a program of record is never easy. We have so many teammates, advisors, stakeholders, and investors to thank for helping us reach this inflection point. We couldn't be more excited to receive this funding, and we are beyond excited to work hand-in-hand with the 56th Maintenance Group at Luke Air Force Base to deliver this mission-critical training platform to Airmen across AETC."
Paired with Holos' existing award under Air Education Training Command's BOA for Live, Virtual, and Constructive Training, Holos is open for business to stakeholders across the U.S. Air Force to utilize Holos' platform as well as to develop further capabilities.
About Holos
Holos, a Madison (WI) based company Co-founded by Daniel Borkhus and Tyler Waite. Holos delivers a no-code VR platform for creating and deploying immersive education and training content. Through an end-to-end suite of no-code tools, Holos enables anyone, regardless of technical background, to produce educational content in VR. Additionally, the entire Holos platform is powered through intuitive hand-based interactions, delivering a much more natural experience. For more information, visit: www.holos.io/government.
About AFRL
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is the primary scientific research and development center for the Department of the Air Force. AFRL plays an integral role in leading the discovery, development, and integration of affordable warfighting technologies for our air, space, and cyberspace force. With a workforce of more than 11,000 across nine technology areas and 40 other operations across the globe, AFRL provides a diverse portfolio of science and technology ranging from fundamental to advanced research and technology development. For more information, visit: www.afresearchlab.com.
About AFWERX
AFWERX, a program office at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), connects innovators across government, industry and academia. Through innovation and collaboration with our nation’s top subject-matter experts and harnessing the power of ingenuity of internal talent, by expanding technology, talent, and transition partnerships for rapid and affordable commercial and military capability.
Additional information is available at: www.afwerx.com.
About AFVentures
AFVentures invests in emerging technologies to scale Department of the Air Force capabilities, strengthening the US industrial base that empowers Airmen and Guardians by incentivizing private, for-profit investment in national security interests. Our success is achieved by connecting novel commercial solutions with defense problem sets, de-risking Airmen and Guardian initiatives to fill capability gaps and transition technologies. Learn more at https://afwerx.com/afventures-overview/.