Autonomous mapping and robotics company, Emesent, receives $17m to accelerate development of its Cortex AI autonomy platform, expand its Aura cloud software offering, and deepen its operations across the mining, defence, and other sectors.
The raise consists of $7m venture debt facility from the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC) — Australia’s sovereign investor in advanced manufacturing — and a $10m equity round from a syndicate that includes Main Sequence, QIC Ventures, Orion Resource Partners, Hostplus, and NGS Super.
“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,” said Emesent CEO, Charles Miller.
Capital will helps scale manufacturing at Emesent’s production facility in Wacol, Queensland, Australia, and to advance two strategic platform initiatives: Cortex AI, the company’s onboard autonomy intelligence that enables fully autonomous operations in GPS-denied and hazardous environments, and Aura, its cloud-based platform for 3D data processing, visualization, and analytics. Emesent currently employs 109 people across its Australian operations and plans to scale the business to meet growing demand from overseas markets.
Emesent’s product portfolio includes the Hovermap STX LiDAR payload for drone, vehicle, and backpack deployments, the Emesent GX1 all-in-one SLAM, RTK, and 360° imagery scanner, Aura data processing software, and Cortex AI autonomous flight software — serving clients across mining, AEC, defense, and critical infrastructure in more than 40 countries.
“Emesent’s pioneering physical AI technology was spun out of the CSIRO in 2018, and we are proud to be supporting the commercialization 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,” added NRFC CEO, David Gall.
