Investor · 17 deals
Federal government space agency
Adelaide, SA
Every published round Australian Space Agency took part in, and every parcel of existing shares it bought off another holder. Deals we hold but haven't published yet are not counted.
Everyone Australian Space Agency has named to a program in published coverage. A place in a program is not a raise: the cheque is the figure recorded with the place, which is the program's standard terms where we hold them, and a blank is one we don't.
Companies Australian Space Agency has backed in a published round, and companies whose existing shares it bought off another holder.
| Company | What it does | First invested | Rounds | Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced Navigation | Navigation technology company using AI, robotics and sensing for GPS-independent position… | 28 Jun 2023, Grant | 1 | 0 |
| AROSE | Not-for-profit, industry-led consortium whose projects include bushfire detection and res… | 21 Mar 2023, Grant | 2 | 2 |
| Australian Remote Operations for Space and Earth | Perth-headquartered, not-for-profit, industry-led consortium focused on making WA a world… | 20 Mar 2023, Grant | 1 | 1 |
| Blueprint Pty Ltd | 1 Feb 2022, Grant | 1 | 1 | |
| ELO2 | Consortium mixing startups, universities and resource sector tech experts, building the R… | 2024, Grant | 1 | 1 |
| Fleet Space Technologies | nano satellite startup | 28 Jun 2023, Grant | 1 | 0 |
| Gilmour Space | Queensland rocket builder and launchpad scaleup | Feb 2024, Grant | 1 | 1 |
| LatConnect 60 | Commercial satellite manufacturer | 30 Apr 2024, Grant | 2 | 1 |
| Myriota | 13 Jun 2024, Grant | 1 | 1 | |
| Neumann Space | 4 Mar 2024, Grant | 1 | 0 | |
| QuantX Labs | Quantum sensing startup developing optical atomic clock technology | 30 Jun 2023, Grant | 1 | 1 |
| Skykraft | 30 Apr 2024, Grant | 2 | 1 | |
| Southern Launch | South Australian rocket launchpad and spaceport operator | 11 Aug 2022, Grant | 1 | 1 |
| Space Machines Company | 30 Apr 2024, Grant | 1 | 1 |
Fund closes reported for Australian Space Agency, as distinct from the investments it has made.
Companies Australian Space Agency has backed that another company then bought. An exit for the holding, not a deal Australian Space Agency did.
Stories naming Australian Space Agency. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Western Australia's government is putting $6.5 million into the local space sector, dividing it between the AROSE consortium and Curtin University's Binar satellite program, with South Australia's bigger spend cited for comparison.
NASA confirmed the Australian-built Roo-ver will reach the Moon by 2030 under its Artemis program. The ELO2 consortium, technically led by Lunar Outpost Oceania of Melbourne, has $42 million in Australian Government backing.
Gilmour Space Technologies has secured the maximum $5 million grant under the federal Industry Growth Program, money earmarked for its next-generation engine, even though its founder publicly attacked the national space regulator.
Also Startup Daily
Gilmour Space has final approval to launch its Eris rocket Thursday from Queensland, carrying Vegemite and a camera on the maiden flight of Australia's first home-grown orbital rocket.
A satellite-servicing firm leads a collaborative effort, backed by program funding, to build a robotic test facility with university and defence partners; its 2026 debris mission earlier received an $8.5 million space agency grant.
Roundup: Space Machines' joint India mission clears a design milestone with an $8.5m government grant behind it, RMIT and Skykraft scale up photonics-based navigation tech, and SunCable names a new group CEO.
Weekly roundup covering seven Australian companies' fresh capital: EV charging, satellite IoT, sovereign cloud, wearables, workplace messaging, plus two crowdfunding raises on Birchal.
Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing
Myriota, an Adelaide nanosatellite company, has raised $50 million with $25 million from the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation; the piece also recaps the fund's recent backing of Quantum Brilliance and Russell Mineral Equipment.
Also Startup Daily·Business News Australia·@AuManufacturing·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·myriota.com·lotfourteen.com.au·atomicmobile.com·Startup Daily·Space Connect·@AuManufacturing
A news roundup covering a government-backed hydrogen project for Telstra, a climate tech fund's first close, new appointments at a South Australian agency and a feed company, plus export approvals and science prizes.
Also @AuManufacturing
Defence communications manufacturer Blacktree Technology has opened an electronics workshop at its Belmont, Western Australia site to bring assembly and R&D testing in-house, with federal and local figures attending the official opening.
Perth consortium AROSE has unveiled Roo-ver, its Trailblazer-funded moon rover prototype, at Parliament House; the Australian-built machine will study the lunar surface carrying a NASA instrument.
Myriota has received a $1.5 million grant from the Australian Space Agency's Moon to Mars Initiative, announced at the opening of its Adelaide experience centre, to fund a communications payload for use off Earth.
Also SmartCompany·SmartCompany
Weekly roundup of the outlet's most-read stories: grants for industry bodies, Space Machines' India mission funding, a plastics recycler's Melbourne factory, an Austal ownership debate, and a quantum growth centre.
Opinion piece by Advanced Navigation's CEO in an @AuManufacturing series arguing for space R&D investment, citing the company's $5.2 million Australian Space Agency grant and Space Machines' satellite launch.
An Australian satellite servicing firm leads an India-Australia debris management mission backed by an $8.5 million government grant; two other companies also won awards under the bilateral space program.
Also Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing·Defence Connect·@AuManufacturing
Australian consortium ELO2 has shown its Moon rover prototype in Adelaide, competing to collect lunar soil for NASA, with support under the national space agency's Trailblazer program.
Valiant Space's VS-1 thruster has reached orbit aboard Space Machines Company's Optimus servicing vehicle after flying on a Falcon 9, with its development backed by an Australian Space Agency grant programme.
Twelve Australian spacetech companies received Moon to Mars Supply Chain Capability grants totalling over $9m for NASA's Artemis, with NextAero, Neumann Space, Metakosmos, Valiant Space, Gilmour Space Technologies and HEO Robotics among those funded.
Also Startup Daily·SmartCompany·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing
Australia's government announces over $9 million in Moon to Mars grants for twelve space projects aligned with NASA's Artemis, helping local companies enter global supply chains.
Australia and the US have signed a Technology Safeguards Agreement easing American rocket launches from local spaceports, while Gilmour has banked an extra $55 million ahead of the debut flight of its Eris rocket.
Consortium ELO2, co-led by EPE and Lunar Outpost Oceania, reveals a prototype rover that could become Australia's first Moon rover, developed under the Australian Space Agency's Trailblazer program for a possible NASA Artemis mission.
The University of Melbourne's SpIRIT gamma-ray nanosatellite has launched, with Australian Space Agency grants of nearly $7 million supporting the project alongside Italian and local industry partners.
Manufacturing briefs roundup: WA government commits $5m to space facility Fugro SpAARC; Starpharma and Micro-X receive R&D tax refunds; Bulla licenses Violet Crumble for ice cream; SCEE wins $50m in contracts.
QuantX Labs is partnering with satellite specialist SSTL through Airbus Australia to prepare its optical atomic clock for a 2026 low-Earth-orbit demonstration under an Australian Space Agency program.
A public competition to name Australia's Trailblazer lunar rover has opened, with the two consortiums building rival designs, AROSE and ELO2, each holding $4 million in grants for early prototype work.
Four Australian space companies are named among ten recipients of Moon to Mars Initiative Demonstrator Program grants, sharing nearly $40 million for projects spanning atomic clocks, navigation technology and payload racking systems.
Also @AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing·Defence Connect·Forbes Australia
Briefs roundup: space capability database launching, IDT's shareholder plan after a $5m placement, Orthocell's R&D tax refund, Ford job cuts, steel output figures, and a gate safety warning.
Conflux Technology will supply a 3D-printed heat exchanger for Rocket Factory Augsburg's orbital rocket, under a partnership supported by a previously announced $1 million Australian Space Agency Moon to Mars grant.
A weekly funding roundup covering Mindset Health's Series A, grants for two lunar rover consortiums, Pivot's raise, and Invest Inya Farmer's seed round.
WA space consortium AROSE has received a $4 million Australian Government grant under the Space Agency's Trailblazer program to design a lunar rover for NASA, leading a sixteen-organisation group including Fugro and Nova Systems.
Also SmartCompany·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing·Defence Connect·@AuManufacturing
Two Australian consortia, AROSE and one involving EPE and Lunar Outpost Oceania, each received a four million dollar grant under the Space Agency's Trailblazer programme to design lunar rover prototypes.
News roundup covering Bega's sale of its Vitasoy stake, a university venture fund's first close, an Australia-Netherlands hydrogen agreement, a research body's budget push, and a new Tasmanian space antenna.
News roundup: Elsight locks in $8 million through convertible notes; Northrop Grumman extends its Quickstep supply agreement; Titomic grows US sales; Fleet Space to survey for Core Lithium; Venture Catalyst Space applications open.
Human Aerospace launches a two-year collaborative research programme to develop health-preserving spacesuits, funded by a grant from the Australian Space Agency's Expand Capability programme, led by Dr James Waldie.
Profile of Adelaide climate-risk modelling startup Reask, whose co-founder presents in Singapore this week; key backer Tencent is funding its expansion as the team grows across three countries.
Valiant Space receives a government grant under the Moon to Mars Initiative to scale and flight-test its non-toxic thruster, with orbital demonstrations planned aboard SpaceX missions ahead of a 2023 market entry.
Skykraft has received Australian Space Agency funding for a $1.76 million project upgrading its satellite attitude control system to improve pointing accuracy and enable Earth observation and lunar missions.
Skykraft and XTEK completed qualification testing of a satellite deployment stack developed under an Australian Space Agency grant of $878,000, clearing it for India's small satellite launch vehicle.