ApolloRise Tech Builds Government Ready Foundation with Support from APEX Accelerator at UCF
AI Engineering Firm Leverages Expert Guidance to Secure WOSB Certification, SAM Registration, and Enter the Federal Market.
June 1, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Hal Thayer, Communications Director, FSBDC at UCF, 407.420.4850 or HThayer@ucf.edu
Elly Membreno, Government Contracting Consultant, 407.420.4856 or Elly.Membreno@ucf.edu
Orlando, FL – Entering the government contracting market is an uphill climb for any small business, but two critical factors make the ascent far more achievable: building a strong foundation and finding expert guidance. Irina Zakharchenko, co‑founder and COO of ApolloRise Tech, understood that both of these ingredients would be essential to her success when she set her sights on the government sector. She turned to the Florida APEX Accelerator at the University of Central Florida—the Florida SBDC at UCF’s government contracting affiliate—to build that foundation with confidence.
ApolloRise Tech, an Orlando‑based artificial intelligence engineering firm, helps mid‑market and enterprise clients transform operational and procurement bottlenecks through custom AI engineering and proprietary products. With a background of nearly two decades of buying enterprise technology, Zakharchenko stepped to the other side of the table when she launched ApolloRise.
“We’re a boutique engineering firm with a soul,” she explains. “Most AI vendors sell a platform and walk away. We work differently. We work like doctors. We listen first, then we diagnose, and then we treat with best‑in‑class solutions built around our clients’ actual operations. Being a boutique is intentional, not a limitation. It means our clients work directly with senior engineers who care about the outcome. I know what it feels like to be sold a solution that doesn’t fit. We started ApolloRise so other operators don’t have to feel that.”
With a compelling model and growing commercial traction, Zakharchenko wanted to expand into government contracting. Through her industry network, she found the APEX Accelerator at UCF. “I found it very easy to work with APEX,” she recalls, “especially working with my consultant Elly Membreno. She was always attentive every time I had a question. When I hit a bump in the road, she was able to describe exactly what steps needed to be taken and the timelines we needed to meet. The process has been easy to follow and Elly has been great.”
Working with the APEX Accelerator positioned ApolloRise for the government‑sector growth they envisioned. “The changes we’ve seen in the business since we started with APEX are significant,” Zakharchenko affirms. “Thanks to APEX, the foundation is in place, and the foundation is what makes everything next possible.”
That foundation includes major milestones. “We are WOSB certified; that opens a specific lane for women‑owned businesses. We’re SAM.gov registered; that’s the foundation for any federal opportunity and it opened doors in the private sector too. Multiple companies have approached us asking, ‘Are you SAM registered?’ Without APEX, I wouldn’t have been able to say ‘Yes.’ We’re now stepping into the bidding and subcontracting process. The need is there. The opportunities are there. Our job is to find them and act on them. None of that happens without the foundation APEX helped us build.”
Looking ahead, Zakharchenko is clear about the company’s trajectory. “We’re pointing ApolloRise where the hottest engineering problems live: aerospace, defense, and beyond. Florida is the launch pad. The Space Coast is our backyard. The Defense Corridor runs through our state. APEX gave us the framework. The rest is execution. We’re not waiting for permission. We’re building for it.”
For information about ApolloRise Tech, please visit https://apollorise.tech/.
— FSBDC —
About the Florida APEX Accelerator
The Florida APEX Accelerator is part of a national network of APEX Accelerators working to help businesses compete successfully in the government marketplace. The Florida APEX Accelerator is powered statewide by the University of West Florida and funded in part by the State of Florida and local partners. This APEX Accelerator is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the Department of Defense. In 2025, the Florida APEX Accelerator network served 1,996 clients, resulting in 4,759 jobs impacted and helping businesses secure more than $569 million in government contracts. For more information, please visit www.flapex.org.
About the FSBDC at UCF
Hosted by the University of Central Florida (UCF), and with its main office in the National Entrepreneur Center located at the Fashion Square Mall in Orlando, the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) is part of part of UCF’s Office of the President and the Florida SBDC Network.
The Florida SBDC at UCF provides aspiring and existing small businesses with no-cost consulting, low-cost training, and access to business data and research resources. In addition to its core service offering, the Florida SBDC at UCF also offers specialized services to qualifying companies, including capital access, market growth, government contracting, international trade, business continuation, cybersecurity, disaster planning and recovery, and more. The FSBDC at UCF serves an eight-county area that includes Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Sumter, and Volusia counties and maintains 9 service centers across Central Florida.
In 2025, the FSBDC at UCF served 2,142 entrepreneurs in Central Florida with consulting services, resulting in more than 3,967 jobs impacted; $760.1 million in sales growth; $83.6 million in capital formation; $85.1 million in government contract awards; and 155 new businesses started. For more information, please visit www.sbdcorlando.com .
About the Florida SBDC Network
For 50 years, the Florida SBDC Network, the state’s principal provider of business assistance [Fl. Stat. 288.001], has nourished a statewide partnership between higher education and economic development to provide existing and emerging small and medium-sized business owners with management and knowledge resources that enable overall growth, increased profitability, and economic prosperity for Florida’s economy.
In 2025, the Florida SBDC Network delivered 112,158 hours of consulting to 15,439 small business clients – resulting in business owners securing $534.7 million in capital, $711.5 million in government contracting, impacting 18,334 jobs, increasing sales by over $3.4 billion, and creating 1,111 businesses.
With over 40 offices statewide, the Florida SBDC is funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Department of Defense, State of Florida and other private and public partners. Full funding disclosure available at www.floridasbdc.org/funding-disclosures/.
The Florida SBDC Network, headquartered at the University of West Florida, is nationally accredited by the Association of SBDCs and is a recipient of the President’s E Award for Export Service. Florida SBDC services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Language assistance services are available for individuals with limited English proficiency. For more information, please visit www.FloridaSBDC.org.
FSBDC at UCF | 3201 E. Colonial Drive | Orlando, FL 32801 | p 407.420.4850 | f 407.420.4862
sbdc@ucf.edu | www.sbdcorlando.com
