Fresh off a multimillion-dollar fundraising deal, Helicon Chemical Co. LLC CEO Wes Naylor didn’t shy away from a bold prediction.
By the time Helicon seeks out its next round of capital, investors will fight each other to invest in the startup and its high-performance rocket propellant, Naylor told Orlando Inno. “This could be the biggest innovation to [rocket] range in 30 years.”
The Orlando-based company — a client of the University of Central Florida Research Park incubator — on Sept. 23 announced it closed a $2 million funding deal, the lead investment in its Series A fundraising round. Helicon now is equipped with funds to ramp up the business and its production capabilities.
Founded in 2012 by Chief Technology Officer David Reid, Helicon developed a rocket fuel that lets rockets and missiles fly further. The chemicals needed to boost the performance can be added at a low level in the supply-chain industry, Naylor said.
That means existing rockets and missiles don’t have to be re-engineered to use the propellant. It also means Helicon can sell to any company or government contractor.
The company aims to sell the propellant to the commercial space sector and defense industry, and already it has secured federal dollars. For example, Helicon in July won a Phase II Small Business Research and Innovation contract worth $1.8 million from the U.S. Air Force at a pitch competition.
Now it has private money behind it, too, thanks to Harlow Capital Management LLC, which led the Series A round. The Dallas-based investment firm focuses its capital on revolutionary technologies that can make an immediate impact, and that’s what the firm saw in Helicon, President Colby Harlow said in a prepared statement. “Helicon’s technology coupled with their strong and seasoned management team will allow the company to rapidly grow with more capital at its disposal.”
The company did not disclose other investors, as Helicon still has to close on the rest of the Series A round, Naylor said.
Over the next year, Helicon will validate the production process for the propellant. The firm plans to do its manufacturing work in Central Florida. However, the business is unlikely to build its own plant; instead, it likely will partner with a company to use existing facilities, Naylor said.
Meanwhile, Helicon also likely will continue to grow its team. The staff nearly doubled from eight to 15 employees in the last three months, and Naylor said Helicon could grow to as many as 40 people in Central Florida.
The growth of companies like Helicon is important for Central Florida because they can provide solutions for other businesses — such as the aerospace and defense firms with heavy presences in the region — and create jobs.
Tech-focused jobs in metro Orlando pay an average annual wage of $90,378, according to CBRE Group Inc. That’s much more than the metro area’s average annual wage of $50,770, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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