Satellite startup Fleet Space orbits $800 million valuation with $150m Series D

South Australian startup Fleet Space Technologies has raised $150 million in a Series D that values the satellite developer and data analytics platform at more than $800 million.

The round was led by Canada’s Teachers’ Venture Growth, the VC arm of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Existing investors Blackbird Ventures, Hostplus, Horizons Ventures, Artesian Venture Partners, and Alumni Ventures also tossed more coins into the cap.

The new funds are to expand the capabilities of Fleet Space’s satellite mapping platform ExoSphere, which is used to discover potential exploration sites for critical minerals used in clean energy products.

ExoSphere’s 3D subsurface imaging capabilities improves the targeting of exploratory drilling, making its Geode ground sensors smaller, lighter, and more capable of acquiring multiple data types simultaneously to improve the insights.

Fleet now operates in the US, Canada, Chile, and Luxembourg with 130+ employees globally. ExoSphere is used by more than 40 minerals exploration companies across five continents.

Fleet previously raised a $50 million Series C in May 2023 and counts Grok, the family fund of Atlassian cofounder Mike Cannon-Brookes, TelstraSuper, and former treasurer Joe Hockey’s advisory firm Bondi Partners among its investors.

A Fleet ExoSphere Geode

Former European Space Agency propulsion engineer Flavia Tata Nardini, and aerospace entrepreneur, Matt Pearson, founded Fleet Space in 2018, initially as an IoT venture before morphing into using space exploration technologies for geomorphic analysis. Fleet Space’s low earth orbit satellites, smart seismic sensors, and AI combines to streamline the acquisition, processing, and integration of exploration datasets for the mining industry, also minimising environmental impact.

Tata Nardini, Fleet’s CEO, said there are two versions of the future.

“One where we bend the latest advances in space, AI, and big data towards building a clean energy future and another where we risk net-zero targets falling out of reach as the rate of new discoveries of energy transition minerals continues to decline,” she said.

“With ExoSphere, we have combined these technologies into an end-to-end platform that seamlessly integrates with and compliments modern mining operations – making the frontier of exploration technology accessible to the global mining industry within a single workflow. This is a fundamental step to unlock humanity’s potential for making extraordinary discoveries with less environmental impact.”

Tata Nardini said Fleet Space has also laid the technology foundation to rapidly accelerate the exploration of new worlds, with smart seismic sensors in the terrestrial ExoSphere system a precursor of the lunar variant, dubbed SPIDER, which will be deployed on the Moon in 2026 to explore the lunar subsurface.

A Fleet Space Centauri-6 microsatellite in orbit

Pearson, the chief exploration officer, said they’re also collaborating with MIT Media Lab’s Space Exploration Initiative, planning future missions to the Moon and Mars, while also developing the world’s smallest voice-enabled satellite.

“The convergence of innovation in space, AI, and 3D subsurface imaging represents a foundational pillar of the core technology set that will enable humanity to build permanent research stations on the Moon, Mars, and beyond,” he said.

“The flywheel we’ve created by continuously enhancing the subsurface understanding of Earth through the global deployment of ExoSphere simultaneously drives advances in the technology needed to build highly scalable, data-driven exploration systems for new worlds. A bold new chapter in the history of space exploration is about to begin and we are positioned to play a significant role as humanity boldly ventures deeper into our solar system.”

Rick Prostko from Teachers’ Venture Growth said meeting rapidly increasing demand for critical minerals is a significant challenge in addressing net-zero targets.

“Current mineral exploration methods are inadequate for efficient discovery and production,” he said.

Fleet Space addresses this with advanced 3D subsurface imaging and AI analysis tools, which have the potential to sustainably transform the industry. We are proud to support the multidisciplinary team at Fleet Space in their efforts to accelerate the global energy transition.”