Australian robotics firm Emesent has secured $17m in new funding to accelerate its Cortex AI autonomy platform and expand its Aura cloud software.
The funding comprises $7m in venture debt from the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC) – Australia’s sovereign investor in advanced manufacturing – and a $10m equity round backed by Main Sequence, QIC Ventures, Orion Resource Partners, Hostplus and NGS Super.
Capital will be used to scale manufacturing at Emesent’s production facility in Wacol, Queensland, and to advance two platform initiatives: Cortex AI, its onboard autonomy software for GPS-denied and hazardous environments, and Aura, its cloud-based platform for 3D data processing, visualisation and analytics.
Emesent employs 109 people across its Australian operations and plans to scale the business to meet demand from overseas markets, including the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector.
The company’s Hovermap product is deployed across more than 200 mine sites globally and is used by major mining operators including Rio Tinto, BHP and Glencore. Its product range also includes the Hovermap STX LiDAR payload for drone, vehicle and backpack deployments, and the GX1 all-in-one SLAM, RTK and 360-degree imagery scanner, which recently completed a roadshow for AEC clients across the Americas, Europe and Asia.
Charles Miller, chief executive of Emesent, said: “This investment accelerates everything we’re building at Emesent. 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, defence, and critical infrastructure. We’re proud to be building this from Queensland, Australia.”
David Gall, chief executive of NRFC, said: “Emesent’s pioneering physical AI technology was spun out of the CSIRO in 2018, and we are proud to be supporting the commercialisation of Australian-developed intellectual property. 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.”
The investment marks the NRFC’s first venture debt deployment to a deep technology company. Main Sequence, an early backer of Emesent through its seed and Series A rounds, returns as part of the syndicate.
Mike Zimmerman, partner at Main Sequence, said: “Since 2018, Emesent has been pioneering how clients map, understand and operate in some of the most complex, dangerous environments around the world, with millions of missions in hundreds of mines and worksites. We’re proud to continue supporting Emesent as they scale and make their world-leading autonomy and analytics platforms available to even more clients.”
Image credit: Emesent
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