Starfish Holdings

What Starfish Holdings does

Starfish Holdings, Inc. is an S-corp holding company headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, that is 100% owned by an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and Trust. Founded in 2014, Starfish exists to grow the retirement portfolios of the employee-owners of its operating subsidiaries and holds three wholly-owned portfolio companies. Torch Technologies, Inc. (founded 2002) is a defense services firm providing research, development, and engineering services to the U.S. Department of Defense and federal agencies under contract vehicles including OASIS, AMCOM Express, and GSA schedules, with capabilities spanning systems engineering, models and simulation, virtual trainers, lifecycle sustainment, software development, cybersecurity, and test and evaluation. Torch reported more than $518M in 2019 revenue, employs more than 1,000 employee owners, and operates across at least 13 U.S. states plus Kwajalein and Egypt. Freedom Real Estate Capital, LLC (established 2014) invests in and manages commercial real estate in the Huntsville, Alabama area, including the Frito Lay Distribution Center in Madison, Alabama, with a long-term rental income strategy. SIMVANA, LLC (founded 2023) is a SaaS company delivering high-fidelity VR training solutions that leverage commercial spatial computing to create 3D immersive training environments, digital twins, and cloud-connected mastery lessons for Department of Defense and commercial customers.

Starfish generates revenue primarily through federal professional services contracts (Torch), commercial rental income (Freedom Real Estate), and — most recently — subscription-based VR training services (SIMVANA). Its go-to-market is enterprise field sales through direct federal contracting relationships, supported by multiple GWAC and agency-specific vehicles that lower procurement friction for buyers. Customers are concentrated in the federal defense ecosystem, including the Department of Defense, U.S. Army (AMCOM, AMRDEC), U.S. Air Force (Eglin AFB), and GSA, with the underlying contract structure tilting toward long-duration task orders and IDIQ vehicles. The holding-company model allows the ESOP to allocate capital across defense services, real estate, and emerging VR SaaS, while the ESOP structure itself is positioned as both an employee-retention asset and a recruiting differentiator in the Huntsville engineering labor market.

Governance and leadership have transitioned since 2024: founder Bill Roark stepped down as CEO in April 2024 to become Chairman and announced his retirement effective March 2025, remaining as Executive Chairman; John Watson, previously President and CEO of Torch Technologies, was promoted to CEO of Starfish Holdings. Joe Pierce was promoted to COO in February 2025, and Cindy Walz (Torch CFO) was appointed to the Starfish board at the same time. The portfolio is recognized through Washington Technology Top 100, Bloomberg Government BGOV200, and 14 consecutive years on the Inc. 5000, alongside four-time BBB Torch Award recognition and Great Place to Work designations.

Name

Starfish Holdings

Legal name

Starfish Holdings, Inc

Website

https://starfishholdings.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Starfish Holdings is a Huntsville, Alabama ESOP-owned holding company operating three wholly-owned portfolio companies: Torch Technologies (DoD and federal defense engineering services), Freedom Real Estate Capital (Huntsville-area commercial real estate), and SIMVANA (SaaS VR training for defense and commercial customers).

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Huntsville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Government Defense Services: Torch Technologies provides research, development, and engineering services to the Federal Government and Department of Defense under various contract vehicles including OASIS, AMCOM Express, and others
2. Commercial Real Estate: Freedom Real Estate invests in and manages commercial real estate properties, focusing on long-term commercial rental income in the Huntsville, Alabama area
3. SaaS VR Training: SIMVANA delivers VR training solutions to Department of Defense and commercial industry customers on a subscription/SaaS basis

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Starfish Holdings is an S-corp holding company 100% owned by an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and Trust, focused on growing the retirement portfolios of employee-owners of its subsidiaries. It operates through three wholly-owned portfolio companies: Torch Technologies (defense research, development, and engineering services for the Federal Government and Department of Defense), Freedom Real Estate Capital (commercial real estate investment and management in Huntsville, Alabama), and SIMVANA (SaaS-based high-fidelity Virtual Reality training solutions for DoD and commercial industry customers).

Product overview

Starfish Holdings is an S-corp holding company owned by an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and Trust. The company operates through three portfolio companies: Torch Technologies (defense services and engineering), Freedom Real Estate Capital (commercial real estate investment and management), and SIMVANA (VR-based training solutions SaaS platform).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Torch Technologies, Inc. Defense services company providing research, development, and engineering services to the Federal Government and Department of Defense, including advanced technologies, engineering design, models and simulation, virtual trainers, lifecycle sustainment, software development, systems engineering, cybersecurity and IT, environmental services, test and evaluation, and program support.
• Freedom Real Estate Capital, LLC Commercial real estate firm that invests in, owns, holds, and manages commercial rental income properties in the Huntsville, Alabama area, with emphasis on renovating and modernizing spaces to attract premium tenants and partnering with investors to develop properties.
• SIMVANA, LLC SaaS company delivering high-fidelity Virtual Reality (VR) training solutions to the Department of Defense and commercial industry. Provides a common training platform with 3D immersive training environments, digital twin creation, mastery lessons for equipment operation training, cloud connectivity for content delivery and user performance collection, and embedded high-fidelity simulation.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over $518M annual revenue (2019)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered community, strategic and core.

• Village of PromisecommunityOthers · 1 September 2020Nonprofit organization serving children and families from cradle to college to career in distressed neighborhoods. Torch Technologies hosts annual fundraising events including golf tournaments and virtual fundraisers, raising over $100K to support Village of Promise programs.
• American Heart AssociationcommunityOthersTorch employee-owners participate in annual Huntsville Heart and Stroke Walk, raising over $63K in 2019 and $46K in 2020. Torch was the top fundraising company.
• Liz Hurley Breast Cancer Fund / Huntsville Hospital FoundationcommunityOthersTorch participates in annual Liz Hurley Ribbon Run, raising funds for breast cancer detection mammography equipment. Raised over $9K in 2017 and $10K in 2018.
• Alabama School of Cyber Technology & Engineering FoundationcommunityOthersTorch Technologies donated $100K to support the establishment of Alabama's cyber technology and engineering school, investing in future workforce development.
• Invariant CorporationstrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerFreedom Real Estate, Torch Technologies, and Invariant Corporation jointly developed the 4040 Chris Drive multi-tenant facility and continue South Huntsville redevelopment projects together.
• General Services Administration (GSA)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerTorch Technologies holds multiple OASIS contract pools (Full & Open Pools 1, 3, 4, 5A, 5B, 6 and Small Business Pools 5A, 5B, 6) providing access to federal government procurement vehicles.
• U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center (AMRDEC)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerTorch Technologies provides technical and engineering services under the AMCOM Express contract vehicle to support Army aviation and missile defense programs.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• STRIVR: VR-based training platform focused on enterprise and sports customers, with emerging DoD presence. Comparable to SIMVANA's VR training SaaS business model and target market, particularly for workforce skill development.

Direct peers

• Parsons Corporation: Defense and infrastructure services firm with significant DoD engineering, missile defense, and cybersecurity practices that directly compete with Torch's core capabilities in Huntsville and broader DoD markets.
• SAIC: Major federal IT and engineering services contractor competing with Torch for Army and Air Force task orders, particularly AMCOM Express-style vehicles. SAIC's merger with Engility and scale make it a direct peer in mid-size DoD systems engineering and integration work.
• CACI International: Direct peer operating in DoD engineering, intelligence, and IT services. CACI competes with Torch on Army, Air Force, and broader federal task orders in similar contract vehicles and capability areas.
• Booz Allen Hamilton: Top-tier federal consulting and engineering services firm with deep DoD and intelligence community presence. Competes with Torch for Army and Air Force technical services work, though at significantly larger scale.
• KBR Inc. Government services and technology solutions contractor with overlapping DoD engineering, sustainment, and program support capabilities. KBR's 2022 acquisition of ManTech expanded its federal services portfolio to directly compete with Torch.
• Applied Research Associates: Employee-owned (ESOP) defense and national security R&D firm closely comparable to Starfish Holdings' ESOP structure and Torch's engineering services model. Competes in similar DoD research and engineering markets.
• Battelle Memorial Institute: Nonprofit applied science and engineering organization with major DoD R&D contracts. Comparable to Torch's engineering services and lifecycle sustainment focus, particularly in defense and national security domains.
• Leidos: Large U.S. defense and government services contractor that directly competes with Torch Technologies for DoD engineering, R&D, and intelligence programs. Leidos' 2020 acquisition of Dynetics — also Huntsville-based — places it as the most relevant scaled competitor in Torch's core market.

Broad incumbents

• Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII): Larger, more diversified defense shipbuilder and government services provider whose Mission Technologies division competes with Torch for DoD engineering and technical services, including in Huntsville missile defense programs.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/starfish-holdings

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Starfish Holdings