# Bill Near

> Bill Near is the founder and CEO of HELIOS, a Portsmouth, New Hampshire sports-technology company that turns hockey development into something you can actually measure. An MIT engineer who captained the school's hockey team, Near pairs an AI-powered sensor that clips to a player's shoulder pads with automated shift video so any skater - youth to pro - can see real numbers on stride speed, acceleration and effort. He built the company in 2018 alongside Hall of Famer Ron Francis, and in October 2025 raised a $2.2M seed round from a syndicate of active NHL executives and players to scale it.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at HELIOS (Helios Hockey)
- **Organizations:** HELIOS (Helios Hockey / Helios Sports), ClearMotion (former), MIT (alumnus)
- **From:** New Hampshire, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S., Engineering (captain, men's ice hockey), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), M.Eng., Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- **Known for:** Founded and leads HELIOS, an MIT-founded hockey performance-analytics company, Built a hardware-free, AI-powered shoulder-pad sensor that tracks stride speed, agility and skating time without external infrastructure, Captained the MIT men's ice hockey team while earning engineering degrees

## Career timeline

- **2010** — Graduates from MIT after captaining the men's ice hockey team
- **2012** — Earns Master of Engineering in EECS from MIT
- **2012-2017** — Spends roughly five years building the electrical engineering team at ClearMotion, a venture-backed automotive startup; also worked with Fortune 500 tech companies developing electronics and software
- **2018** — Founds HELIOS in partnership with NHL Hall of Famer Ron Francis to make hockey development measurable
- **2022** — Appears on The Morning Skate podcast (Ep. 255) to discuss Helios
- **2023** — Featured on the FUTR SPRT podcast; announces HELIOS x EHF league partnership
- **2025** — Closes a $2.2M seed round (announced Oct 3, 2025) from a syndicate of active NHL executives and players

## Achievements

- Founded and leads HELIOS, an MIT-founded hockey performance-analytics company
- Built a hardware-free, AI-powered shoulder-pad sensor that tracks stride speed, agility and skating time without external infrastructure
- Captained the MIT men's ice hockey team while earning engineering degrees
- Raised a $2.2M seed round backed by Hall of Famer Ron Francis and active NHL player Alex Kerfoot
- Assembled a founding team drawn from MIT, the NHL, Intel, Nike and Bauer
- Secured partnerships with players including Matthew Knies (Toronto Maple Leafs) and Caroline Harvey (US Women's National Team / Wisconsin), plus the EHF league

## Latest updates

- **2025-10** — HELIOS closed a $2.2M seed round (announced Oct 3, 2025) led by a syndicate including active NHL executives and players; founding investor Ron Francis and Utah Mammoth forward Alex Kerfoot among backers. Funds aimed at product, market growth, team building and partnerships.

## Links

- Website: https://helioshockey.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/billnear
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/helios_hockey
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNOTnO-RN4tph5FcPG7Xbuw
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helioshockey

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/bill-near
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-25