Helicon's mission is to accelerate the world's transition to advanced materials. We combine AI software, robotics, and full-stack manufacturing to reinvent how the West maintains a competitive edge.

We hire people with high agency and high urgency. We look for slope over intercept. We care about what you’ve built. At Helicon, everyone owns problems end to end and makes consequential decisions that shape the outcome. Every day we build what most think is impossible.

We're backed by the investors who were first believers in Applied Intuition, Valar Atomics, Factory, Astranis, Flock Safety and Relativity Space.

What You'll Do

Work with customers and complete DFM to make parts manufacturable at scale
Design and own production tooling for composite parts.
Master the factory floor and push process capabilities every day towards full automation.
Collaborate with world-class software engineers to teach real manufacturing constraints to Argos (our OS for supply chain, quoting, pricing, simulation)

Who We're Looking For

Need:

You have designed, built, tested composite parts from scratch.
Experience with high volume composites processes and hydraulic presses

Nice to have:

Experience with automated manufacturing lines
Experience with machining and 3D printing for tooling

We're not for you if:

You think composites will never be used at industrial scale
You think software can't learn the artisanal work that today limits composite part volumes

Why Join

Bethlehem for steel. Helicon for composites.

For too long the most advanced materials in the world have been left to the exquisite, we're industrializing composites enabling the systems of the future to be built at mass scale.

We want the best people and have no bureaucracy. That includes covering meals and paying for products that make you more productive and our partners stronger.

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

About the company

Helicon builds autonomous manufacturing cells and Argos software to mass-produce carbon-fiber composite parts for unmanned systems, robotics, and aerospace. The system combines automated factories with software control to replace manual layup, delivering cycle times under 15 minutes and lead times around two weeks. The production layout uses robot-friendly materials and processes and is deployed as autonomous factories rather than hand-built workflows, setting it apart from traditional composites. The goal is to scale manufacturing, engineering, and operations to bring carbon-fiber parts to market faster and more reliably, supported by seed funding to expand capacity.

Company Size

1-10

Company Stage

Early VC

Total Funding

$15.4M

Headquarters

Los Angeles, California

Founded

N/A

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

AlleyCorp led Helicon's $16 million seed round in September 2026.
Los Angeles aerospace customers need domestic drone and robotics supply chains now.
Torrance's 36,000-square-foot buildout supports immediate hiring across engineering, robotics, and operations.

What critics are saying

Helicon has no named customer, pilot, or shipped part by October 2026.
AS9100-like aerospace certification and defense qualification will delay revenue beyond the 2026 launch.
Orbital Composites and incumbents like Toray and Hexcel already own advanced-composites credibility.

What makes Helicon unique

Helicon targets under-15-minute composite cycles, versus hours in legacy autoclave shops.
Torrance factory design optimizes robots, materials, and quality control for automation-first production.
Argos unifies quoting, simulation, manufacturability, and inspection around carbon-fiber part production.

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Benefits

Meal Benefits

Company News

Expansión

Oct 5th, 2026

Spanish AI robotics startup Helicon raises $15.8M to automate composite material factories

Spanish aerospace engineer Edmundo Sanz-Gadea has raised €14 million (US$16 million) for Helicon, an AI and robotics startup automating industrial manufacturing. The funding round was led by New York-based venture capital firm AlleyCorp. Helicon, co-founded with Alex Nieahaus in California, focuses on automating production of composite materials like carbon fibre. The company will use the capital to build a factory in Los Angeles and purchase industrial equipment. Sanz-Gadea explains that conventional production processes are highly manual and slow. With growing demand from manufacturers of drones and unmanned aerospace systems, more automated plants using AI and robotics are needed to speed up production. The Los Angeles facility should be operational within a year. Helicon plans to replicate this automated factory model in Europe, helping reduce dependence on Chinese manufacturers and supporting sovereign supply chains.

Helicon

Manufacturing Engineer - Composites

About the job