About
We start at the farthest point.
An aphelion is the point in an orbit farthest from the sun. Most technology is built near the center. Aphelion is built out here, in rural Alaska, where the problems are real and the people who solve them are overlooked.
Where it began
Before Aphelion, there were small businesses.
Aphelion didn't start as a technology company. It was built through trial and error, one small business at a time, as we figured out what we wanted to become. Each one started with little capital, and each one brought us a step closer.
Online vape shop
An online retail business with an in-house partnership at a local coffee shop, where we sold products right at the counter.
Tobacco retail
An online retail store selling leaf tobacco and punk ash.
Snow removal & landscaping
A year-round service business: clearing snow through Alaska winters and keeping lawns and landscapes in shape all summer.
DGM Services
A facility management company that went on to win government contracts with a combined value of $1.1M.
OnixAI
Our first technology company, where we traded facilities for software and learned to build products from the ground up.
Aphelion
Everything we learned, in one place: a technology venture studio that builds, backs and serves the places others overlook.
Some of them worked and some didn't. Every one taught us how small businesses really run in remote markets: thin margins, long distances, small customer bases, and very few tools built for places like ours.
Aphelion is what came from those lessons: a technology venture studio that builds the companies rural Alaska needs, partners with the founders who live these problems every day, and gives small businesses the technology we wish we'd had.
Aphelion at a glance
What we do
One studio. Three ways we build.
Aphelion is a technology venture studio and holding company. Everything we do comes back to one idea: the places others overlook deserve great technology too.
We build ventures
We start, own and operate our own technology companies, built for real problems in rural places.
Our ventures → 02We back founders
We partner with builders in any industry and give them the technology, media and experience to grow.
For founders → 03We build for businesses
Through Aphelion Studio, we build websites, apps, software and AI for small businesses.
Aphelion Studio →Our story so far
From facility contracts to a technology studio.
Every chapter taught us something about building in small, remote markets. Here's how Aphelion got here.
Foundations
2023 – 2024Learning to win, deliver and operate in a remote market.
- Aug 2023
Founded as DGM Services
Our story begins in facility management. Years of overseeing operations and contracts for a 447,000 sq ft commercial property became the blueprint for our first company.
- Dec 2023
First government contract
DGM Services wins its first commercial government contract, valued at $300K, and proves a small Alaskan company can compete for serious work.
The turn to technology
2025 – early 2026Trading facilities for software, and learning to build from the ground up.
- Oct 2025
Re-formed as OnixAI
We sold our facility assets, contracts with a total value of $1.1M, and re-formed as a technology company with a founding team of three.
- Nov 2025
Our first product
Planning and development begins on RAVN, a mobility platform for small communities in the Lower 48.
- Feb 2026
A smaller team, the same mission
Our original co-founders stepped away. WG kept building, learning to code along the way, and the company became leaner and more hands-on.
Building the studio
2026Bringing the work home to Alaska and growing a family of ventures.
- Jun 2026
Grizzly Media begins
We started organizing Grizzly Media and published our first business spotlights that same month.
- Jul 2026
RAVN becomes MOBL
The vision sharpened into a rural commerce and mobility platform built for rural Alaskan communities.
- Aug 2026
ORIK in development
Work begins on our second product, an AI business intelligence agent for small businesses.
- Oct 2026
OnixAI becomes Aphelion
A technology venture studio that builds and backs technology for the places others overlook, now building for founders and small businesses too.
What comes next
Our team
How we operate
We build here first.
Because if it works with low connectivity, long distances and small markets, it works anywhere.
We build alongside founders.
Because the best ideas come from people who live the problem every day.
We own what we build.
Because owning and operating keeps us honest about what really works.
We take the long view.
Because communities need businesses that stay, not ones that flip.
We share what we have.
Because a founder with access to our technology, media and marketing starts further ahead.
We keep the value close to home.
Because the places we build in should be the ones that benefit.
Contact
Let's talk.
Partnerships, ventures, press, or a website for your business. Reach out and we'll get back to you.