Early-Stage ventures chosen for the 2023 NSIN Propel Hawaii Accelerator will develop 5G, autonomous, and other commercial state-of-the-art technologies for the U.S. Navy and its partners in the Pacific Region.

Twelve startups selected from over 200 applicants to the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) Propel Hawaii accelerator will work with U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet (PACFLT) N6 and other U.S. Indo-Pacific Commands (INDOPACOM) to provide the military greater access to emerging defense technologies.

Startups in the NSIN Propel Hawaii cohort will enable the DoD to address modernization needs across four key technology focus areas: networks and connectivity, contested logistics, autonomous systems, and disaster response.

“This initiative allows the Department of the Navy, through the U.S. Pacific Fleet, the opportunity to leverage the skills and talent embedded across our industry partners and gives us the ability to find and actualize solutions to challenges we’re facing as we work to improve readiness and remain cutting edge in all our communications domains,” said CAPT Andre Wilson, Director Of Intelligence Innovation, PACFLT N2C.

NSIN Propel Hawaii is a collaboration among NSIN, PACFLT N6, NavalX Hawaii Tech Bridge, Hawaii Technology Development Corporation (HTDC), University of Hawaii Office of Innovation and Commercialization, and Decisive Point. Over the next three months, the cohort will deliver cutting-edge capabilities to the U.S. Navy and its partners for operating as a ready, capable, and combat-credible force in the Pacific Region.

“The NSIN-PACFLT N6 partnership utilizes the vast resources nested in technology startups around the USA to not only improve our own cutting-edge capability but assist in furthering innovation by American businesses,” CAPT Wilson noted.

The accelerator’s end goal is to lower barriers to entering the DoD for companies by attracting investment from trusted private capital and government end-users seeking further engagement with the cohort.

“We applied to this accelerator to further understand how we can work with the DoD both as a potential customer and R&D partner,” said Arpad Kovesdy, Chief Technology Officer at Beamlink and one of the companies in the NSIN Propel Hawaii cohort. Beamlink and the other ventures will gain access to a robust network of private investors and commercial partners and iterate on proofs of concept for national security applications during the accelerator.

“Our work in building cell networks for disaster zones and last mile communities has a large overlap with the DoD’s priorities in humanitarian aid and communication in remote and austere environments, somewhere private 5G networks are becoming a clear solution,” added Kovesdy.

MEET THE SMALL BUSINESSES IN NSIN PROPEL:

  • Beamlink
    Beamlink designs portable cellular networks that can be set up by anyone in minutes, offering off-the-grid 4G or 5G cellular broadband and WiFi connectivity to any phone, in any environment. Beamlink’s networks, made from small lunchbox-sized cell towers, can provide internet access to communities in the wake of a disaster, rural areas, and any austere operating environment.

  • Caliola Engineering
    Caliola Engineering builds resilient and secure communications solutions in anti-access area denial (A2/AD) environments. The team has expertise in military satellite communications (MILSATCOM), nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3), mission planning, high frequency (HF) modernization, assured positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), and non-traditional cybersecurity architectures.

  • EpiSci
    EpiSci is a cross-disciplinary AI-driven company that develops trusted, human-level autonomous technologies for defense, aerospace, and commercial applications. Its tactical AI accelerates hardware-enabled, software-defined, human-commanded, and AI-controlled autonomy for the next generation.

  • Fourth State
    Fourth State is building an enhanced thermo-scatter system that provides over-the-horizon voice and data communications in denied, degraded, and limited capability environments. Its atmospheric conditioning techniques enable the creation of virtual satellites that are rapidly deployable worldwide.

  • Hyperkelp
    Hyperkelp delivers ocean data as a service with its growing network of smart buoys for customers in naval intelligence, climate science, and commercial ports.

  • Kapalya
    Kapalya is developing a next-generation AI/ML based counter ransomware tool, in collaboration with the National Security Agency, which is leading industry standards at detecting, inoculating, and stopping propagation of ransomware or malicious code on mobile, endpoints, servers, cloud, sensors and internet of things (IoT).

  • Lynq
    Lynq’s mobile, ad hoc, mesh networking software (MANET) allows for the rapid deployment of a self-forming and self-healing network of completely heterogeneous devices, securely communicating voice and data over miles without infrastructure or connection fees. Lynq’s software stack can integrate into very low cost, small size, and low power devices. The company also offers a penny-sized module containing this software for ease of customer integration.

  • Makai
    Makai is a Native Hawaiian Organization 8(a) firm specializing in Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR), DoD weapons systems integration, business process improvement, and the modernization of wired and wireless networks.

  • MemComputing
    MemComputing offers a revolutionary approach to solving complex transportation logistics problems that are beyond the capabilities of traditional computing technologies. Its cloud-based MEMCPU™ Platform dramatically reduces the time to optimize logistics applications, driving new levels of operational efficiencies and cost savings, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars annually for several Fortune 500 companies.

  • QuSecure
    QuSecure is the only U.S.-founded end-to-end post-quantum cryptography solution on the market. Its product, QuProtect®, combines Quantum Random Number Generator with post-quantum cryptography asymmetric algorithms to strengthen post-quantum cryptography (PQC).

  • Seatrec
    Seatrec has developed a patent-granted technology to produce clean and renewable energy from temperature differences in the ocean to provide infinite power for autonomous profiling floats and gliders.

  • TurbineOne
    TurbineOne delivers machine learning at the tactical edge, empowering anyone to find dangerous things in no-code and no-cloud environments. The hardware-agnostic software breaks down vendor-lock and automates national security operations.

About National Security Innovation Network

NSIN is a government program office within the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OSD(R&E)) that collaborates with major universities and the venture community to develop solutions that drive national security innovation. We operate two portfolios of programs and services: Talent and Venture. Together, these portfolios form a pipeline of activities and solutions that accelerate the pace of defense innovation.

For more information or interview requests with Team NSIN, please contact us at [email protected].