Fleet Space finds funding for nanosatellite IoT

The Series B capital raise – which gives a $126 million valuation for the company – was led by existing investors Artesian Venture Partners, Blackbird Ventures, Grok, and Horizons Ventures. New investors included Alumni Ventures, Hostplus, the South Australian Venture Capital Fund (SAVC) and In-Q-Tel.

“This investment secures the long-term sustainable growth of Fleet Space and is a global endorsement of the power of the rapidly growing Space technology sector,” said Flavia Tata Nardini, CEO and Founder of Fleet Space Technologies. “Our nanosatellite technology is proven and this capital injection is testament to confidence in our commercial model.”

“We are ready to scale and realise the full potential of IoT technology to secure planet-wide coverage of millions of industrial devices. This will save billions of dollars for organisations in lost value while preserving precious resources and reducing carbon emissions.”

The company says it will lead to the creation of 70 new jobs, many of them skilled.

“The growth of Fleet Space Technologies and the successful completion of this funding round is a glowing affirmation of the sustained development of the Australian and South Australian space industry sector,” said David Pisoni MP, Australia’s Minister of Innovation and Skills. “In backing Fleet, the Marshall Liberal Government is supporting the creation of highly-skilled jobs in South Australia and plotting a trajectory towards the Australian Space Agency’s stated aims to build a $12 billion industry by 2030.”

Fleet Space gets Momenta

Previously, back in September 2019, we reported that Fleet had raised $7.3m, in Series A funding, from global funds including Momenta Ventures and Horizons Ventures.

Fleet’s funding also included capital from the Kennard family, a customer of Fleet via their equipment hire business Kennards Hire.

The company had launched four nanosatellites at that point. The current total is six, with the company aiming for a 140-satellite constellation.

For the IoT side, Fleet uses long-range LoRaWAN hubs to process data from sensors at the edge.

Pictured above, back in 2018, are the Fleet Founders (Flavia Tata Nardini and Giovanni Pandolfi) opening their Red Banks Ground Station, in Banks Reservoir, Pinkerton Plains – its Mission Control South Australia. It was built in collaboration with Italian satellite ground segment service provider Leaf Space.

See also: Inmarsat to provide satellite backbone for Hiber’s IoT services