STARTUP CENTRAL AND DEFENSE COMPANY ONE ANNOUNCE CLAY RICHARDSON AS CEO, SERIES A, AI TO 3D PRINT AR PIPELINE

TEMPE, Ariz., Jan. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Startup Central (SC) is a vertically integrated and AI-powered conglomerate of hard/deep tech startups, IP holding companies, and multimedia studios, think Yamaha/3M/Hitachi meets Universal/Publicis.

SC announced that Clay Richardson has stepped up as CEO while the companies continue to ReIndustrialize North America and SC opens a Series A fundraise.

Richardson brings more than 15 years of engineering and AI experience from Silicon Valley companies, including X. His background spans hardware development, rapid prototyping, and AI.

"We're building an accelerated path where iteration happens fast," Richardson said. "Our role is to give founders the tools, staff, capital, and environment to move at the speed of their ideas."

At SC, Richardson will lead the expansion of an industrial accelerator/coworking space in Tempe, AZ, while continuing to drive manufacturing, crypto-native VC, and AI-powered R&D. SC is also pioneering cryptocurrency crowdfunding through its Start.fun platform and DeltaV token.

Spinoffs:

• Defense Company One (DCO): Autonomous defense and security systems.
• IdentiKey: Open-source quantum-resistant homomorphic ReCryption.
• Morphist.AI: Local-first AI chatbot and private data storage.
• ALL SYSTEMS GO: AI-powered virtual filmmaking ecosystem.

Accelerations:

• Northern Signal Ops (NSO): Passive EMF drone detection comms & defense.
• SkyBourne Aerospace: AI-powered UAS for public safety.

START CONSOLE DEBUTS WORLD'S FIRST IDEA TO 3D PRINT PIPELINE IN VIRTUAL INVENTION WORKSPACE

SC recently announced an advancement with its Start Console platform, an AI-powered product development app.

Start Console is now an augmented reality experience, including the world's first idea-to-3D-print pipeline. SC's immersive reality team optimized the program to allow builders to overlay digital tools and models directly into their surrounding workspace.

New embodied interactions allow users to convert ideas into 3D generative meshes, which they can adjust and send to a 3D printer within the Start Console system.

"We've rebuilt the app from the ground up to make it into the best AI-driven invention engine possible," said Director of Immersive Reality Jack Haehl, "these changes redefine how builders collaborate with AI in the real world."

STARTUP CENTRAL WELCOMES NEW BATCH OF STARTUPS FOR ACCELERATION

SkyBourne

In Q4 2025, SC welcomed SkyBourne Aerospace to its Tempe R&D center. CEO Naman Tibrewal and CTO Sid Vaidyanathan created SkyBourne Aero to provide first responders with safer, more actionable situational awareness.

SkyBourne Aero's autonomous drones combine adaptive AI with LiDAR, thermal imaging, and chemical sensors to track fire spread and deliver real-time intelligence to emergency personnel. Their flagship SkyBourne Halo features a carbon fiber body designed for enhanced maneuverability and fire resistance in high-risk environments.

"We're stoked to welcome SkyBourne to the ecosystem as they continue to innovate and scale," said SC CEO Clay Richardson.

Morphist.AI

Another emerging initiative is Morphist.AI, an encrypted AI chatbot co-created by SC Staff SWEs Norbu Snow-Shiva and Duke Jones.

As frequent AI users, Snow-Shiva and Jones relied on multiple platforms to brainstorm ideas and solve challenges. Over time, they noticed conversations were fragmented across systems, making it time-consuming to search for critical information.

To address this, Snow-Shiva and Jones co-founded Morphist.AI, a voice-first application that returns control to the hands of the user. The platform synchronizes existing systems while giving users full autonomy over their data, including the option to store information locally on their personal devices or on external hardware.

Morphist.AI is available for iPhone users via the Apple App Store, with continued development expanding functionality and privacy-forward features.

ALL SYSTEMS GO - AI

SC revealed the development of ALL SYSTEMS GO (ASG), an AI-powered filmmaking ecosystem for the next generation of auteurs. Its core product, STAGECRAFT, translates real-world filmmaking workflows into an AI-powered pipeline to give creators control over performance, enabling precise visual outcomes from start to finish.

"Think of us as mission control for your AI-powered filmmaking workflow," said ASG Co-Founder Clay Haskell. "We aim to remove the guesswork from AI by putting artists back in the driver's seat. Through voice-first, conversational workflows, directors can guide performances, run scenes and literally call the shots."

Drawing on Haskell's two decades of experience in film, television, and Savannah College of Art and Design, ASG is envisioned as a community-driven platform where creators collaborate to create, remix, and license production-ready assets for film and commercial projects.

ASG is currently deployed internally at SC, with plans for enterprise-scale and white-glove virtual production services.

DCO & NSO

SC announced a partnership with Northern Signal Ops (NSO), a Canadian defense firm and portfolio member of the Atlantian Cybernetics Development Cluster (ACDC), an innovation and R&D enterprise focused on advanced AI and defense technologies.

Through this collaboration, the Cerberus Passive Detection Unit (PDU) was developed, a modular, AI-powered system designed to passively detect and track UAS threats, which leverages RF/EM signal analysis to identify hostile aircraft.

In November 2025, NSO was selected to demonstrate the Cerberus PDU at the Counter Uncrewed Aerial Systems Sandbox 2025 in Ottawa, hosted by the Government of Canada. The event brought together global innovators and representatives from the RCMP, Canadian Armed Forces, the US Government's Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate, and allied partners to evaluate emerging drone detection technologies.

Beyond Cerberus, both NSO and DCO plan to continue advancing next-generation defense capabilities and expanding cross-border collaboration.

Media Contact:
Mary Elizabeth Elkordy
[email protected] 

SOURCE Startup Central