Latest news with #Helios
Otago Daily Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Solar farm proposals on different tracks
Two major solar energy developments in Otago are taking very different paths, one opting for a government fast-track route, the other choosing the traditional resource consent process amid significant public scrutiny. Black Point Solar Farm, proposed by Black Point Solar Ltd, is among 149 projects included under the Fast-track Approvals Act, passed into law in December. The company plans to build the solar farm on a 240ha sheep and deer property about 5km from Duntroon in North Otago. If approved, the farm would consist of 380,000 solar panels — enough to power about 38,000 homes. "As part of the project, sheep or other compatible farming will continue under and around the solar panels, maintaining the productive potential of the site," the application reads. Construction would begin once consent and financing were secured, completion being expected within two years. Initial discussions have been held with Network Waitaki, Transpower, the Waitaki District Council, local MP Miles Anderson and neighbouring property owners. However, an Environment Protection Authority Fast-track spokesperson said yesterday Black Point Solar Farm had not yet lodged a substantive fast-track application. No timeline has been set for lodging the full application. Meanwhile, further inland in Central Otago, Helios Energy is pursuing a 660ha solar farm in the Maniototo between Naseby and Ranfurly. Helios announced the project in October 2023 but chose to forgo the fast-track option in favour of the conventional consent process. A Central Otago District Council hearing is scheduled for August 19-21 in Ranfurly. The original proposal included a 300MW installation with 550,810 solar panels aligned in sun-tracking rows and a battery energy-storage system (BESS). However, in May, Helios dropped the battery component following community concerns about fire risks and insufficient information about suppression systems. Construction is now delayed until at least 2029. Community response has been mixed. Of the 179 submissions received, 23 were in favour and 12 were neutral. The remaining 144 opposed the development, with concerns ranging from fire safety and noise pollution to glint and glare from the panels. At a public meeting in Ranfurly last December, former Delta employee and whistleblower Richard Healey spoke about risks associated with utility-scale solar projects. Fire was a major concern due to the gases given off if the panels ignited. Retreat would be difficult and a possible fire would put stock at risk. Nearby residents also voiced worries over construction impacts. The plan requires driving 10,000 metal stakes 2m into the ground, a process locals fear could generate disruptive noise and vibrations.
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Helios (HLIO) Stock Is Trading Lower Today
Shares of motion control and electronic systems manufacturer Helios Technologies (NYSE:HLIO) fell 4.5% in the afternoon session after the stock gave back some of its recent gains, likely as investors engaged in profit-taking following a strong rally over the past several weeks. The motion and electronic controls technology company did not release any specific negative news to account for the drop. However, the stock had experienced a significant run-up since late June, and such pullbacks can occur as traders lock in profits. While there were no fresh catalysts, investors may also be weighing previously highlighted risks. The company has noted potential headwinds from an estimated $15 million in tariffs during the second half of 2025 and faces continued softness in its agricultural and industrial end markets. The morning's decline could reflect a combination of technical selling and ongoing investor caution regarding these known challenges. The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Is now the time to buy Helios? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. Helios's shares are quite volatile and have had 16 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today's move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business. Helios is down 22.6% since the beginning of the year, and at $34.32 per share, it is trading 39% below its 52-week high of $56.28 from November 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Helios's shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $972.79. Here at StockStory, we certainly understand the potential of thematic investing. Diverse winners from Microsoft (MSFT) to Alphabet (GOOG), Coca-Cola (KO) to Monster Beverage (MNST) could all have been identified as promising growth stories with a megatrend driving the growth. So, in that spirit, we've identified a relatively under-the-radar profitable growth stock benefiting from the rise of AI, available to you FREE via this link.
Miami Herald
12-07-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Helios Secures $4M Seed Round to Build First AI-Native Operating System for Public Policy Professionals
Agentic AI platform built for government interaction gives policy and legal teams leverage to move faster, stay ahead of the compliance curve, and outmaneuver red tape. NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / July 11, 2025 / Helios, a technology company building the first AI-native operating system for public policy professionals, today announced that it has raised $4 million in seed funding led by Unusual Ventures, with participation from Founders Inc., Alumni Ventures and a select group of strategic angel investors. The company is gaining early traction in a U.S. market with $10B+ in annual software & lobbying spend. It is working to reshape how private entities and government agencies navigate policy and regulatory challenges, with billions already under management by early adopters. "Policy, compliance, and regulatory affairs professionals shouldn't be stuck playing defense - constantly reacting to changes they didn't see coming," said Joe Scheidler, CEO & Co-Founder. "We built Proxi to change that. In a world where one missed signal can cost millions or derail strategy, Proxi gives public policy and compliance intelligence teams the clarity, speed, and leverage to shape outcomes instead of getting blindsided by them." Proxi is the first AI-native OS purpose-built for public policy, regulatory affairs, legal, compliance, and government teams. It replaces the patchwork of tools these professionals rely on to navigate legislative change, manage public-private relationships, and respond to shifting regulatory demands. Whether in the private sector or across federal, state, and local governments - Proxi enables faster, more strategic decision-making in environments where the cost of delay or misalignment is measured in lost contract opportunities, failed policy, or reputational risk. The consequences aren't just regulatory-they're existential. The Proxi platform: (i) delivers instant answers and strategic recommendations based on live federal and subnational legislative and regulatory activity, (ii) drafts memos, filings, and policy documents with built-in editing and team collaboration, (iii) parses long-form bills, reports, and filings into structured insights and risk alerts, (iv) centralizes all relevant policy and regulatory data for team-wide access and historical context, and (v) tracks government relationships, meeting notes, and stakeholder engagement-all in a secure, AI-powered workspace. By integrating these core functions in a single secure system, Proxi replaces manual, fragmented processes with the speed, foresight, and precision modern institutions demand. Helios's founding team - Joe Scheidler (CEO), Joseph Farsakh (President), and Brandon Smith (CTO) - brings together experience from the White House, State Department, Microsoft, USAID, Datadog, and King & Spalding, bridging deep public sector insight with world-class technical execution. "We are excited to back the talented founding team at Helios as they leverage AI to reshape how policy professionals drive critical strategy and growth within their organizations," said Lars Albright, General Partner at Unusual Ventures. "As regulations continue to evolve rapidly and grow increasingly complex, modern tools that enable enterprises not only to stay informed, but also to respond swiftly and strategically, are more essential than ever." More than 100 public policy professionals, including Fortune 500 companies; federal, state, and local regulatory bodies; consultancies; and top lobbying firms have joined Helios' rapidly growing waitlist. The funding will accelerate product development, team expansion, and go-to-market efforts. To learn more, visit ABOUT HELIOS: Helios is building the first AI-native operating system for government interaction, empowering public policy, legal, and compliance professionals with end-to-end automation, secure AI agents, and precision tooling. Headquartered in New York City with a presence in Washington, D.C. and California, Helios is on a mission to modernize how institutions engage with government at every level. Learn more at MEDIA CONTACT: Nina Pfister, MAG PR at nina@ ### SOURCE: Helios
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Helios Technologies (HLIO) Upgraded by KeyBanc on New Strategy and Leadership Promise
Helios Technologies Inc. (NYSE:HLIO) is one of the . On June 26, KeyBanc raised Helios Technologies Inc. (NYSE:HLIO) from Sector Weight to Overweight, setting a $40 price target as the company's new leadership and strategy are seen as promising. The upgrade coincides with KeyBanc's declaration that it is confident short-cycle markets have bottomed out, setting Helios up for an eventual market recovery with substantial margin leverage potential. The firm admits that in the near future, margin issues brought on by excess capacity will likely persist. Sean Bagan, the newly appointed CEO at Helios Technologies Inc. (NYSE:HLIO), intrigued KeyBanc with his remarks about refining the company's go-to-market strategy and putting in place a more thorough assessment of Helios' operational footprint and portfolio. Helios Technologies Inc. (NYSE:HLIO), together with its subsidiaries, develops and manufactures innovative products and solutions for a range of end markets, including hydraulic cartridge valves, quick-release couplings, and customized electronic control systems. While we acknowledge the potential of HLIO as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. Read More: and Disclosure: None. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Helios wants to be the AI operating system for public policy professionals
When OpenAI was having its ChatGPT moment in 2022, Joe Scheidler, co-founder and CEO of Helios, was tackling a different kind of challenge: Helping build the White House's newly authorized cybersecurity office and navigating the complexities of public-private coordination on cyber policies. His current co-founder, Joseph Farsakh, was also at the State Department, working on Yemen Houthi peace negotiations. The two overlapped in national security discussions and started trading notes on how large language models might transform public policy on a day-to-day level. On the level the White House operates, critical decisions are often made using a patchwork of tools, spreadsheets, and institutional memory. The founders thought: What if there was a better way to support decision making, one that combined AI-native tools with an understanding of how public policy is decided? The answer to that question was the idea behind Helios. To make it real, the co-founders brought on Brandon Smith, a long-time acquaintance of Scheidler's and a machine learning veteran who had worked at Microsoft and Datadog, to lead the technical vision. 'Our unfair advantage is bringing a super unique blend of domain expertise, contacts, and technical expertise to a really important problem,' Scheidler told TechCrunch. Helios (not to be confused with the payroll/HR management solution, or the climate/economic forecasting product of the same name) emerged from stealth last month with $4 million in seed funding. The round was led by Unusual Ventures, with participation from Founders Inc. and Alumni Ventures, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. Helios' flagship product is Proxi, an AI-based operating system built for public policy, regulatory affairs, legal, compliance, and government teams, is still in beta. But, Scheidler says, the company is already seeing early traction with workers in federal, state, and local agencies, as well as Fortune 500 companies and startups. 'We wanted to empower all public policy, legal and compliance professionals with end-to-end automation, deploying sort of a web of secure AI agents that are trained and fine-tuned against really robust public policy data sets to support them on anything from strategic advisement to very sensitive and complex writing products, data analysis and stakeholder mapping,' he said. Proxi has four core features. The first is dubbed 'Consult,' and Scheidler describes it as a 'conversational AI agent, your 24/7, always-on public policy team member who is constantly scanning the legislative and regulatory environment.' Before they begin, customers tell Proxi about themselves, their work, their portfolio, their focus and objectives. The agents then surface key information to the user every time they log on. In a way, Consult is similar to another software platform by Hence, which uses AI to help organizations monitor geopolitical and business risk. Proxi's second feature is called 'Scribe.' This is a collaborative AI editing and writing tool that helps policy professionals turn their soundboarding sessions with Consult into memos, filings and policy documents. Then there's 'Decipher,' a large-scale data analysis tool that helps users parse long-form bills, reports and filings, and turn them into structured insights and risk alerts. 'That's a lot of what I spent my time doing at the State Department when I would have far preferred to just be on the Hill, building relationships with people who are actually making draft amendments and provisions,' Scheidler said. Finally, Proxi offers a CRM (customer relationship management) tool that helps people visually map out their stakeholder environment and track their interaction history, including meeting notes. It's an all-in-one offering, Scheidler said, noting that Helios uses top encryption standards for federal clients, and is currently working through compliance audits. Helios plans to use the seed funding to flesh out its product and engineering team, with a focus on finding the right tech talent. Rather than rushing to monetize quickly, Scheidler says the startup is focusing on building long-term business relationships and collecting meticulous feedback from early beta users. 'Our goal in five to seven years from now is for Helios to be completely synonymous with all government public and private interaction,' he added. That may mean barrelling past short-term competition like Bloomberg Government and Fiscal Note Forum to challenge longer-term rivals like Palantir, OpenGov and Civica, the co-founder said. 'Palantir just surpassed a $300 billion market cap,' Scheidler said. 'We think there's a lot of room to play in this space over time.'
