Earlier this year, we were selected to join the Hybrid Data Movement Cohort of the prestigious Catalyst Accelerator programme. The Catalyst Accelerator was developed to promote technology advancement for warfighters through facilitating technology transfer between industry and government. The Accelerator is sponsored by the United States Space Force, Air Force Research Laboratory and Microsoft. The US Space Force, in conjunction with AFRL/RV, outlined the following challenge and sought out companies to help solve it:
‘How might we provide a secure and scalable hybrid data environment to pull, move and combine diverse sets of data from commercial, public, Allied and Government sources to allow users to find, fix, target, track, engage, and assess on faster timelines?’
We were delighted to be one of the eight small businesses chosen to work on this exciting and important topic.
From March through May, our CEO, Richard Johanson, and CTO, Owain, were busy in Colorado, meeting every other week with fellow cohort members to share ideas with and learn from industry and government subject-matter experts.
Richard sat down with KiMar Gartman, the Catalyst Accelerator Program Director, to discuss the Archangel Lightworks mission and the support the accelerating is giving us.
The accelerator culminated in a Demo Day event on the 26th of May during which we had the opportunity to present our solutions alongside the other seven cohort companies to the US Space Force, Microsoft, Amergint and others, and to hear from guest speaker Steve Case. The accelerator was an exceptionally valuable program for us and further confirmed the potential for our technology to help solve the challenge of hybrid data movement.
On his experience in the Catalyst Accelerator, Archangel Lightworks CEO, Richard Johanson, says 'We are incredibly grateful to the entire Catalyst community for welcoming, educating and supporting us throughout the accelerator program. Archangel Lightworks as a company has benefited tremendously from the efforts of the organising team – KiMar, Kate, and Shae – as well as from the sponsors, our Sherpas, our fellow cohort members, the speakers, mentors, and DoD personnel who shared valuable lessons and insights with us. Thank you all!’