Herndon-based IAI North America wants to identify the next group of startups that will disrupt the aerospace industry.
The company's Catalyst accelerator program, which launched earlier this year as a five-month business training program, is seeing some initial success and is even garnering interest from the firm's parent company, Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. of Tel Aviv.
Julio Flores, IAI North America's senior director of business development, told me the accelerator brought an initial batch of four startups from across the country to Greater Washington. It's actively going through applications to pick up to 10 startups for its second cohort, which will be named later this fall.
The company is offering up to $100,000 in equity investments to each startup that enrolls in its accelerator as part of a bet they will produce a significant return in the future. Flores said the chief technology officer and other executives at Israel Aerospace Industries, a company that co-developed Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system and other aerospace technologies, are watching the accelerator closely.
"That's the level of visibility and attention that this is getting from a corporate perspective, the company is all-in on this," Flores said in a phone interview. "I know that the CTO's office is very happy with the progress that the founders and the companies have made."
IAI North America will showcase its initial cohort of startups during a private demo day event next week at its innovation center, which opened in January within its 30,000-square-foot headquarters near Dulles International Airport.
The startups in the first cohort include San Francisco aerospace component maker AeroFuse; New York aerospace simulation provider BosonQ Psi; Lehi, Utah, defense and space manufacture FibrX; and Orlando sensor technology firm VYZai.
Having the startups temporarily relocate to Greater Washington for the accelerator is intentional, Flores said, as doing so could see the companies eventually set up shop locally.
"The proximity to the Department of Defense customers in the area, in the Greater D.C. area, it allows us to facilitate meetings and exposure to correct end-users and decision-makers," Flores said. "I think it also provides a beachhead for companies that may not be local to the Greater D.C. area."
Flores said the cohort has already taken advantage of opportunities to network and gain access in the region that could help the startups scale. It's too soon to tell if any will establish an office presence, he said, but the odds are likely some will in time given the accelerator's ambition of becoming a permanent offering that welcomes several cohorts a year.
"We provide an entry and a landing space for companies into the Greater D.C. area that they can come use our offices, be active through here and kind of establish their network from a landed location," he said.
IAI North America is one of several aerospace firms that have taken off in Fairfax County in recent years. The company moved out to its larger Herndon headquarters in 2019 after leaving a prior location in Rosslyn. It employs about 200 people across the U.S. and is led by President and CEO Stephen Elliott.
