During this time period SOAR began with a team of 6 ambitious UCF students that had the goal of introducing personality into the drone racing community for hobbyist. During this era most drone frame were created with the same exact carbon fiber black (due to the durability & flexibility of the CF), which caused pilots to have difficulty expressing their identity when piloting their drones. The only way pilots could express some sense of personality was by having their motors and/or rotor blades colored. To many pilots this wasn't enough customization. This is where SOAR Aerospace was born. The SOAR team discovered that they could offer pilots the opportunity of expressing their personality by creating carbon fiber composites and introducing a top and bottom layer of colored fiberglass into their composites to introduce unique colors that pilots never imagined to see, which also having the durability & flexibility that were needed from the CF.  To SOAR this was a simple fix to the drone racing frames that caused an uproar in the community. Drone pilots were thrilled by the colors SOAR was able to provide to the community. As SOAR became a notable brand in the drone racing industry, the team began to realize that they wanted to do more than just create products for drone hobbyist. They wanted to create a brand that was able to impact the world. Therefore, the team decided to take their knowledge acquired from manufacturing CF composites for the drone racing industry and hit the drawing board to determine which industry had a major problem that needed solving and how they could take their expertise and aid another industry.

one of their advisors, Meri Lundahl. Meri, a pioneer in the field, was the first to extract nano materials from wood waste and spin them into continuous fibers with strength comparable to Kevlar, (as exhibited in the video above).The SOAR Aerospace team were excited to discover that a materials specialist had successfully created fibers using naturally sourced nanomaterials. Inspired by this innovation, the team knew they had to connect with Meri to gain insight into her groundbreaking thesis. Following the initial conversation, SOAR established a great working relationship with Meri and continued to have collaborative meetings with her while attempting to replicate her biopolymer experiment. However the process proved to be challenging and necessitated countless trials for the team. With perseverance, their efforts did pay off with a successful replication of the experiment.

After conducting several successful experiments and researching potential industries, the SOAR team discovered the highly pollutive nature of the textile industry. The team was astounded to learn that the fashion industry was the second largest contributor to pollution, totaling 10% of greenhouse gas emissions annually. This is when SOAR transitioned into SOARCE. With Meri’s expertise, the team learned that nanomaterials derived from nature can be stronger than synthetic materials made from finite resources (e.g. oil). Utilizing Meri’s approach, SOARCE began creating recyclable and repurposable materials from natural sources such as biobased alternative fabrics.

With the replicated experiments Soarce was able to apply for a National Science Foundation grant and were awarded $50,000. This funding enabled the team to advance their research and development efforts, strengthening their position to attract private investment.

During this time, Soarce sought funding from LEAD SPORTS & HEALTH TECH, resulting in a joint investment of $70,000 from LEAD and Tavistock Group in 2022. This financial support provided Soarce with the necessary resources to sustain operations for a few more months while they continued to pursue additional funding.

As the team expanded with new investors and additional lab members, Meri was invited to join the team as the Sustainability Executive, a role she gladly accepted.