The Genetics Operating System

About Helical

The genetics operating system the industry was missing.
Why we exist

Built to unlock the value of genomic data

Genotyping costs have collapsed over the past decade—but the data systems behind breeding programmes haven't kept up. Fragmented databases, proprietary silos, and manual workflows created a structural bottleneck that prevented organisations from realising the full value of their genomic data.

Helical was built to fix that. Founded in New Zealand in 2021, we set out to build the genetics operating system the industry lacked—a unified, modern platform for genomic data management, registry operations, and genetic evaluation, accessible to organisations of any size.

We are bootstrapped, SaaS-based, and headquartered in Rotorua, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. Our platform now operates in over 40 countries, powering some of the world's most advanced breeding systems across beef, dairy, sheep, and beyond.

 Read our full story
2021 FoundedRotorua Headquarters · Bay of Plenty, New Zealand40+ countries ReachBootstrapped Funding
Who we are

The people behind the platform

An independent team of geneticists and software developers, headquartered in Rotorua, New Zealand.

 Founder & CEO

Dr Dan Garrick

Raised on a sheep, beef and deer farm in New Zealand, Dan finished high school in Colorado, then earned his undergraduate degree and PhD in aerospace engineering at Iowa State. Along the way he collaborated with the US Army and NASA, worked at Boeing and was an NSF Symbi GK-12 Fellow; his PhD on fuel sprays in supersonic rocket engines was funded by the US Air Force Research Laboratory. Today he builds the infrastructure that connects DNA, performance and on-farm data into continuously updating prediction systems, so breeding and management decisions can be made earlier, faster and with more confidence.

PhD, Aerospace Engineering, Iowa StateNSF Symbi GK-12 Fellow CEO, Theta Solutions LLC (USA), where he develops the BOLT genetic evaluation softwareAdjunct Lecturer, AL Rae Centre for Genetics and Breeding, Massey UniversityFormerly at Boeing, working on rotorcraft including the V-22 Osprey Read Dan's story Lead Developer

Joel Howse

Joel grew up on a farm and spent a stint training world-class thoroughbred racehorses before going back to the University of Waikato for his degree, where he connected with Dorian and then Dan. He has been with Helical since inception and leads full-stack development across the platform.

With Helical since inceptionFull-stack developerUniversity of Waikato Technical Advisor

Prof. Dorian Garrick FRSNZ

Statistical geneticist with a 40-year career as a professor. Advises Helical on genetic evaluation methods.

Fellow of the Royal Society Te ApārangiPhD, Animal Science, CornellBIF Pioneer Award 2017 Chief Scientist, AL Rae Centre for Genetics and Breeding, Massey UniversityJay Lush Endowed Chair in Animal Breeding and Genetics, Iowa State University (2007–2017)Professor of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Colorado State UniversityExecutive Director, US National Beef Cattle Evaluation ConsortiumCo-founded Theta Solutions LLC (2014) with Prof. Bruce Golden, developing BOLT for single-step genetic evaluation Genetics

Dr Zuleica Trujano

Genetic Data Scientist Zuleica is a quantitative geneticist focused on beef cattle, making genetic evaluations and variance component estimation more efficient with massive genomic and large-scale data. Based in the United States, she works jointly with International Genetic Solutions and Theta Solutions. She grew up on a family-run feedlot in Texcoco, Mexico, earned her bachelor’s and master’s in animal science at the University of Chapingo, and completed her PhD in the Animal Breeding and Genetics group at the University of Georgia. PhD, University of GeorgiaQuantitative geneticsBased in the US Engineering

Aidan Starke

Senior Full-Stack Developer Aidan moved into Web3 and blockchain in 2021, after a coding bootcamp, and quickly became passionate about its potential. As a full-stack developer at CENNZnet, later Futureverse, he built front-end experiences for users, learned Rust and developed Substrate blockchains. He and Jason worked together there before both joining Helical. RustSubstrate blockchainsFormerly Futureverse Engineering

Jason Tulp

Senior Full-Stack Developer Jason has built blockchain software since 2021, first as a software engineer at Centrality.ai, then as a senior software engineer at Futureverse, where he was a protocol developer for The Root Network blockchain, writing Rust. He worked alongside Aidan there before joining Helical in January 2026. RustBlockchain protocolsFormerly Futureverse Customers

Hannah Gibb

Customer Onboarding Manager Hannah grew up on a sheep and beef property in the Manawatū, with a seedstock breeding background and years of involvement with NZ Herefords. In 2019 she moved to Queensland, where she worked in livestock supply, operational planning and data analysis at AACo and then Nbryo. She now leads customer onboarding at Helical, and is a proud supporter of agricultural youth programmes. NZ HerefordsAACoNbryo Customers

Paul Charteris

Business Development Paul has 16+ years in beef cattle genetics, genomics and science communication, including a master's at Colorado State University and time at a California genomics company. He founded the Tarawera Ultramarathon, one of the world's most prestigious trail ultras, then returned to cattle genetics as Dairy Beef Genetics Product Manager at LIC before joining Helical. Master's, Colorado State UniversityFounder, Tarawera UltramarathonFormerly LIC
The Genetics Operating System

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