Emesent Raises $25 Million to Expand Drone Technology Beyond Mining

This is the first venture debt investment made by the NRF. The funding will help Emesent develop new products, increase manufacturing at its Wacol facility near Brisbane, and improve its Cortex AI software so it can work with different types of hardware.

Founded in 2018 as a CSIRO spinout, Emesent last raised $32 million in a Series A funding round in 2022, led by Perennial Partners.

The $15 million SAFE Note was supported by existing investors, including Main Sequence, Orion Resource Partners, QIC and super funds NGS and Hostplus. The company did not describe the funding as a Series B round.

Emesent's Hovermap drone is designed to create 3D maps of dangerous or hard-to-reach places where GPS does not work. It has already been used at more than 200 mining sites around the world.

The Hovermap system can also be mounted on a vehicle or carried by hand to capture detailed 3D LiDAR data.

Emesent's customers include Rio Tinto, BHP, and Glencore. Its technology is also used in construction, engineering, infrastructure, utilities, defence, and industrial projects, including post-conflict mapping, disaster recovery, and future public safety and emergency response operations.

NRF CEO David Gall said robotics and spatial computing are emerging segments of the Australian economy. “By keeping the Emesent’s advanced manufacturing capabilities in Australia, NRFC investment will help to build resilient supply chains while strengthening Australia’s sovereign capability in key sectors like advanced robotics and autonomous systems,” he said.

Founded in 2018 by Dr. Stefan Hrabar and Dr. Farid Kendoul, Emesent is an Australian technology company that builds autonomous drone mapping and 3D surveying solutions for industries including mining, construction, infrastructure, and defence.

Emesent's technology helps businesses improve safety, reduce the need for manual inspections, and collect accurate mapping data in dangerous or hard-to-reach areas. Besides mining, its solutions are also used in architecture, engineering, utilities, public safety, emergency response, and defence.

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