Helios Secures $4M Seed Round to Build First AI-Native Operating System for Public Policy Professionals
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 https://heliosintel.ai.
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 https://heliosintel.ai/.
MEDIA CONTACT: Nina Pfister, MAG PR at nina@mooringadvisorygroup.com.
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SOURCE: Helios
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