Holos

The story of Holos begins in 2014, when co-founders Daniel Borkhus and Tyler Waite first delved into the world of virtual reality. They founded the company in 2015, initially envisioning a customizable VR homespace where users could organize and launch content. This early version allowed users to bring web applications into their personal virtual space. The company's direction evolved towards immersive education. Holos's mission became to change how people learn by moving beyond traditional 2D methods like PDFs and slides into fully-present 3D learning experiences. Their platform provides instructors with tools to create and monetize virtual reality courses, making hands-on learning more accessible. A significant chapter in their journey involved working with the U.S. government. After receiving grant funding from the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a prototype in 2016, Holos raised its first funding round in 2018. In 2019, the company was accepted into the AFWERX program to pilot its platform with the U.S. Air Force, aiming to increase mission readiness through virtual training. This led to subsequent SBIR contracts with AFWERX to further develop their training solutions.