On Wednesday, a key venture deal in the emerging Australian space sector was announced. Fleet Space Technologies, headquartered in Adelaide, South Australia announced that it has raised $26.4 million in an oversubscribed Series B round. Fleet Space will use the funds to further develop the use of its advanced nanosatellite technology in emerging Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
The Series B round, which values the company at $126 million, was led with follow-on money from Artesian Venture Partners, Blackbird Ventures, Grok, and Horizons Ventures with major commitments from new investors including Alumni Ventures, Hostplus, the South Australian Venture Capital Fund (SAVC) and In-Q-Tel. This new capital raise follows Fleet Space’s Series A round in September 2019, and (according to the company) represents not just a firm commitment to Fleet Space, but a firm commitment to Australia’s rapidly emerging space industry. The capital round is expected to create 70 new Australian jobs, including many desirable science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) positions.
To date, Fleet Space has designed, built and launched Australia’s only commercial nano-satellites and has six satellites already in orbit as it works toward building a constellation of 140 small satellites in Low Earth Orbit.
“This investment secures the long-term sustainable growth of Fleet Space and is a global endorsement of the power of the rapidly growing Space technology sector,” said Fleet Space Founder and CEO Flavia Tata Nardini. “Our nanosatellite technology is proven and this capital injection is testament to confidence in our commercial model. We are ready to scale and realize the full potential of IoT technology to secure planet-wide coverage of millions of industrial devices. This will save billions of dollars for organizations in lost value while preserving precious resources and reducing carbon emissions.”
“Fleet Space Technologies has delivered on their promise to unlock the potential of the Internet of Things through their proprietary nanosatellite technology. We are proud to be part of an ambitious new growth phase that will widen Fleet’s satellite network and more broadly serve critical infrastructure in remote locations,” said Alumni Ventures Partner Jonathan Meltzer.
