The Beverley-based satellite company raised a total of A$50 million through Australasian venture capital firm Blackbird, which more than doubled the company’s valuation to around $350 million.

The new funding from Grok Ventures, Alumni Ventures and Hostplus came after Fleet exceeded growth expectations and was contributed to by new investors such as TelstraSuper, Bondi Partners/The 1941 Fund and Pavilion Capital.

North Ridge Partners was Fleet’s financial advisor for the Series C round.

Fleet Space Technologies team.

Flavia Tata Nardini, Co-Founder & CEO of Fleet Space Technologies, said the Series C fundraising was a result of the company’s commercialisation of its ExoSphere satellite-based mineral exploration technology worldwide.

“Since the launch of Exosphere we have achieved an impressive milestone of reaching $28 million in contracted revenues within a year, deploying customers in every continent of the world,” she said.

According to Nardini, ExoSphere is currently in operation with 30 clients globally, including Rio Tinto, Barrick Gold Corporation, Core Lithium and Gold Fields with more than 100 surveys for mineral exploration projects either completed or in progress.

“The U.S. Energy Information Administration has pointed out that the world will need hundreds of new mines to meet the critical minerals demand required for the energy transition (to net zero),” Nardini, an InDaily 40 Under 40 alumnus, said.

“We are believers that space-enabled data in exploration will allow the search for critical minerals to speed up so much that we will be able to reach humanity’s targets for net zero.

“With this capital, we aim to map the subsurface of Earth and find the deposits that are needed with a much lower environmental impact.”

Outside of mining, Fleet has also won work in the defence industry.

In April, Fleet secured a $6.4 million contract with Australia’s Defence Space Command.

The agreement, named ASCEND2LEO, will see Fleet’s next generation of Centauri satellites used to develop and demonstrate a Low-Earth Orbit satellite communications system focused on tactical communications and data transmission where connectivity is limited.

Director of Space Services at Defence Space Command Clifford White said the partnership would help the command achieve its aim of defending Australia.

“Space is operationally critical to the achievement of the defence mission, and this is an example of innovative ways to advance our capability and support the development of a sustainable national space enterprise,” White said.

Nardini said the new funding would help Fleet expand its global presence, particularly in North America, as well as develop new technology enabled by machine learning and AI, and expand its constellation of satellites.

“Looking ahead, our vision extends beyond Earth as we aim to leverage these cutting-edge techniques to scan the Moon and Mars, enabling responsible exploration and unlocking extraterrestrial resources that were once out of reach,” she said.