A space laser firm is beaming new operations to Central Florida.
Archangel Lightworks Ltd. in May established its first U.S. office at the University of Central Florida Research Park Business Incubator, and it plans to begin scaling its local team later this year and into next year, CEO Richard Johanson told Orlando Inno. The Oxfordshire, England-based company plans to cement itself into the Central Florida business ecosystem by seeking local partners, working with UCF researchers and hiring Florida talent.
Founded in 2017, Archangel developed space-air laser communication terminals to transmit data through space faster. There’s big demand for data transmitted from space, but it’s often transmitted with radio technology that’s slow and limited, Johanson said. By transmitting from space to high-altitude spots in the sky, Archangel avoids the disruptions clouds cause in space-to-ground laser communications. “To get to the bandwidth levels of Earth in space, we need new technology.”
Archangel impressed statewide spaceport authority Space Florida in 2020; the company won the $40,000 grand prize at Space Florida’s Aerospace Innovation & Tech Forum pitch competition. That demonstrated the Florida market was interested in Archangel’s works and kept the Sunshine State on the shortlist of U.S. markets to land in, Johanson said.
The company’s focus on space may seem to make it tailor-made for Florida’s Space Coast, but Archangel chose to establish its U.S. presence in Orlando through the UCF Incubation Program’s soft-landing program. Although Brevard County is an aerospace hub — nowhere in the world hosts more launches — Orlando stood out for a few reasons, Johanson said.
“Part of us standing up a team is access to talent, lab space, R&D. Given the stage of where we are, we thought the standing up of that business fit better nesting in UCF next to [The College of Optics and Photonics] than going out to the Space Coast.”
Of course, Archangel will engage with companies on the Space Coast, Johanson added.
While it’s unclear right now how big its local team may be, Archangel plans to scale its U.S. operations “as quickly as we can,” Johanson said. The company will prioritize hiring American workers in Orlando, with a need for technical, business development and market development talent.
The addition of high-tech companies to Orlando’s economy helps generate high-wage jobs in a region historically known for low wages and still recovering from the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic. For example, the average annual local technology wage of $89,000 is much higher than metro Orlando’s overall average annual wage of $48,530, according to CBRE Group Inc. (NYSE: CBRE) and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
International companies like Archangel are common clients of the UCF Incubation Program’s soft-landing program, said UCF Innovation Districts and Incubation Program Director of Programs and Operations Carol Ann Dykes Logue. While some international firms that use the program are bigger or more established than the incubator’s typical clients, they fit the incubator program’s mission because businesses new to operating in the U.S. have to relearn many laws and regulations, she said. “It’s a startup all over again.”
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