Insider Brief
- Emesent raised AUS$25 million to expand its autonomous mapping and robotics business and accelerate development of its Cortex AI and Aura software platforms.
- The funding includes a AUS$10 million venture debt facility from the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation and a AUS$15 million equity round backed by Main Sequence, QIC Ventures, Orion Resource Partners, Hostplus and NGS Super.
- Emesent said it will use the capital to scale manufacturing in Wacol, Queensland, and deepen operations in mining, defense and architecture, engineering and construction, with products used in more than 40 countries.
Australia’s Emesent raised AUS$25 million to expand its autonomous mapping and robotics business and speed up development of its AI and cloud software platforms.
According to the Queensland company, the funding includes a AUS$10 million venture debt facility from the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation and a AUS$15 million equity round. The equity round included Main Sequence, QIC Ventures, Orion Resource Partners, Hostplus and NGS Super.
Emesent, which spun out of CSIRO in 2018, indicated it will use the capital to scale manufacturing at its production facility in Wacol, Queensland, and advance two platform initiatives: Cortex AI and Aura. The company currently employs 109 people across its Australian operations and plans to expand to meet demand from overseas markets.
Emesent’s product portfolio includes:
Hovermap STX: A LiDAR mapping payload designed for drones, vehicles and backpack-based scanning.
Emesent GX1: An all-in-one scanner that combines SLAM, RTK and 360-degree imagery.
Aura: Cloud-based software for 3D data processing, visualization and analytics.
Cortex AI: Autonomous flight software for operations in GPS-denied and hazardous environments.
The products serve customers in mining, architecture, engineering and construction, defense and critical infrastructure in more than 40 countries, according to Emesent. Emesent’s flagship Hovermap product is deployed across more than 200 mine sites globally and the company said it is considered critical for customers such as Rio Tinto, BHP and Glencore.
“This investment accelerates everything we’re building at Emesent,” said CEO Charles Miller. “Our clients operate in some of the most demanding environments on the planet, and they rely on our technology to make those environments understood. NRFC’s support means we can scale our manufacturing, push our AI and autonomy capabilities further, and deepen our presence in the sectors that matter most to Australia’s future, including mining, defense, and critical infrastructure. We’re proud to be building this from Queensland, Australia.”
The NRFC investment is the organization’s first venture debt deployment to a deep-technology company and Emescent said the facility reflects the fund’s use of non-dilutive growth capital for Australian businesses with commercial traction.
“Robotics and autonomous systems are emerging as critical segments of the Australian economy, and this investment will help anchor these capabilities in Australia — creating highly skilled jobs while strengthening our sovereign capability in sectors that underpin the nation’s future,” added NRFC CEO David Gall.
Emesent pointed out its GX1 product recently completed a global AEC Solutions roadshow across the Americas, Europe and Asia.
