Queensland-based drone mapping and data analytics start-up Emesent has raised AUD$32m (£16.9m) in a Series A funding round, which will be used to set up offices in the UK and US, as well as extending the company’s services to more industries.
Following the oversubscribed funding round the company aims to double the size of its engineering team with growth focused on data analytics.
“We have grown from seven to 130 staff in just three years, by establishing ourselves as a global leader in our industry, with more than 300 customers in more than 40 countries,” Hrabar said.
“Autonomous data capture and analytics is providing significant benefits to the mining and infrastructure sectors, with very clear returns on investment in terms of safety, productivity and yield.”
Emesent is a spin-out from the Australian government’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, it aims to commercialise a 3D lidar mapping unit called Hovermap. The system is designed to conduct surveys of underground mines in 15 minutes, where it would otherwise take up to three hours.
Users can conduct walking scans or mount the unit on a drone, vehicle or backpack. When installed on a drone, Hovermap allows autonomous flight without a GPS and enables collision avoidance in all directions.
Hovermap technology is responsible for producing the world’s first fully autonomous drone flight beyond line-of-sight in an Australian underground mine, which was 600m deep.
Habrar said following this success, the time was right to expand to new sectors: “Our drone autonomy, lidar mapping and analytics technology will certainly benefit the architecture, engineering and construction sectors, as well as the oil, gas and defence markets.”
