Key Takeaways
- Helios secured $2.2M in seed funding from angel investors including Hockey Hall of Famer Ron Francis, now President of Hockey Operations for the Seattle Kraken
- The shoulder pad sensor tracks stride speed, agility, and skating time without requiring permanent arena hardware or temporary beacon placement
- Current customers include the US women’s national team and all 12 schools in the ECAC conference
- Video syncing feature allows coaches to deliver data-driven feedback immediately after players leave the ice
- Company has expanded beyond original youth hockey focus to serve junior, college, and professional levels
Funding Round Brings Hockey Industry Veterans to Cap Table
New Hampshire-based Helios has closed a $2.2M seed round led primarily by angel investors from the hockey world. The investor group includes Ron Francis, a Hockey Hall of Famer who currently serves as President of Hockey Operations for the Seattle Kraken, and Alex Kerfoot, a forward for the Colorado Mammoth. The round also drew support from Stadia Ventures’ accelerator program and the Oregon Sports Angels.
The capital will support scaling operations as the company expands its presence across multiple levels of competitive hockey.
Hardware-Free Tracking Technology Differentiates Product
Helios manufactures a sensor that attaches to a player’s shoulder pads and tracks movement metrics on the ice, including stride speed, agility, and total skating time. The product’s key differentiator is its independence from infrastructure. Unlike competing wearables for indoor sports, Helios does not require permanent hardware installation inside arenas or the setup of temporary beacons, which typically need calibration.
“For any indoor sport, you have to install something, and that’s a critical block on adoption down market below, say, NCAA,” said Bill Near, founder and CEO of Helios. Near, an MIT graduate who captained the school’s hockey team, identified the infrastructure requirement as a major barrier to youth market penetration. “What we saw was this opportunity to bring to the broad base, nine-year-olds and up, performance wearables that could actually track sports-specific performance and deliver individualized feedback and player development plans to drive improvement.”
The infrastructure-free model allows the product to function immediately in any rink without technical setup or venue coordination.
From Youth Hockey to Professional Levels
While initially developed for and marketed to youth hockey players ages nine and up, Helios has since attracted customers across the competitive spectrum. The company now serves high-level junior hockey programs, collegiate teams, and professional organizations. The US women’s national team has used the product, and Helios is the preferred wearable technology partner of the ECAC, a 12-school conference that includes Ivy League programs and other Northeast institutions.
Near identified video syncing as a critical feature for market adoption. The capability creates what he described as “the interplay between the data-driven player development but with the stickiness of the video.” This combination allows coaches and players to review performance metrics alongside game footage, providing context for the numerical data.
The monitoring function serves a particular role in travel and showcase hockey circuits, where young athletes compete in multiple games over short timeframes. Data tracking can provide objective indicators when players need rest or identify specific skills to address before their next game. “It’s really hard for these parent volunteer coaches to give every kid something meaningful about their player development each time they get off the ice or field, and so we felt like technology could really play a role there,” Near said.
Strategic Position in Hockey Technology Market
The seed funding positions Helios to scale a product that addresses a documented gap in youth sports performance tracking. By eliminating infrastructure requirements that typically limit wearable adoption at lower competitive levels, the company has created access to tracking technology for the broad base of youth hockey participants. The backing from hockey industry veterans adds strategic value beyond capital, connecting the company with decision-makers across professional and amateur hockey organizations.
As the product gains traction at higher competitive levels while maintaining its youth market foundation, the company’s challenge will be managing growth across distinct customer segments with different technical needs and price sensitivity.
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