Leading Irish simulation data company enters the market as a soft-landing client of UCF’s Research Park Innovation District
Orlando, Fla. (February 28, 2025) – Once again, Central Florida’s global leadership in the simulation industry has attracted another top international firm to expand into the region.
Dublin-based VRAI, recently named one of Europe’s top early-stage defense companies by The Financial Times, is opening its first office in the United States at the UCF Business Incubator in Research Park. With the expansion, the company is looking at doubling its worldwide headcount to 50 employees and tripling annual revenues over the next three years.
“Orlando is the global hub for simulation and training making it easy to choose the region as our first expansion into the United States,” says Patrick O’Connor, CEO, VRAI. “I believe our track record of working with some of the top defense companies in Europe will allow us to significantly contribute to the US market as well.”
VRAI provides human performance data products for simulation training in aerospace, defense, security and offshore energy industries. Working with leading European organizations such as the Royal Air Force, BAE Systems and Kongsberg, the company’s technology enables the capture, storage, analysis and visualization of data generated in simulators in order to reduce time, save cost and improve trainee performance.
Currently, the company has three US military veterans who are contractors working out of its Orlando offices. The current plan is for the company to hire up to 1e full-time employees in the first year in a range of positions, such as business development, software developers, data engineers and will relocate some of the company’s senior leadership.
VRAI recently landed a $5 million investment to help establish the Orlando location
The move is part of a larger trend of Irish businesses focusing on the United States. Irish tech exports to the US were worth 1.1 billion euros in 2023 and there are currently over 900 Irish-owned companies exporting to the United States, making Ireland the 9th largest source of Foreign Direct Investment into the US globally, according to the US Bureau of Economic Statistics. Ireland also has a trade surplus with the US.
The Soft Landing program offered by the UCF Business Incubation Program is designed to give established companies a start in Central Florida without a significant up-front investment. The time at the Incubator allows the company to interact with potential customers, learn about the local business community and utilize the resources of the 25-year-old program.
The Soft Landing program has a proven track record of working with companies from around the world, enabling them to be leaders and scale in Orlando quickly.
“The Central Florida Research Park is the heart of this global hub of simulation and this program allows us to be in the center of that hub,” O’Connor says. “In addition, Florida is a tremendous state for business, along with being one of the top places for attracting the type of talent we are looking to hire.”
Carol Ann Logue, director, Innovation Districts Programs & Operations, University of Central Florida, says: “VRAI is a perfect example of who we want to bring to Central Florida through the Soft Landing Program as they have a significant track record of success already and has the potential to become a major company in our region too. Their technology can improve the data coming from simulations and we’re looking forward to being a part of their expansion into this market.”
# # #
UCF Business Incubation Program: Carol Ann Logue, 407-635-9882, carolann.dykeslogue@ucf.edu; ; Alan Byrd, Alan Byrd & Associates, 407-415-8470, Alan@ByrdConnections.com
About VRAI: Founded in 2017, VRAI is a simulation technology company working with customers in defense and security such as the British Army, Irish Defence Forces, The Royal Air Force, BAE Systems and Kongsberg, as well as customers in offshore energy and emergency services. Headquartered in Dublin, and with offices in Newcastle, England, its mission is to redefine exceptional human performance through data-driven simulation. VRAI believes human performance data is currently the untapped resource in training and, as a result, built its product, HEAT, which integrates with simulators of all kinds to provide an analytics layer that delivers actionable insights into human performance. VRAI currently employs 25 people. For more see www.vraisimulation.com
About the UCF Business Incubation Program: The University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program is a community resource that provides early-stage companies with the tools, training and infrastructure to become financially stable, high-growth/impact enterprises. Since 1999, this award-winning program has provided vital business development resources resulting in over 300 local startup companies reaching their potential faster and graduating into the community where they continue to grow and positively impact the local economy.
With nine facilities throughout the region, the UCF Business Incubation Program is an economic development partnership between the University of Central Florida, the Corridor, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia Counties, and the cities of Eustis, Kissimmee, Orlando and Winter Springs. In 2023, current incubator clients supported over 1,000 employees and generated over $120 million in revenue. Nineteen companies graduated from the program and remained in the local community. For more information, visit www.incubator.ucf.edu
