Ontario pension backs $100m funding for tech firm spotting deposits from space
Australia’s Fleet Space Technologies announced Wednesday it raised $100 million led by the investment arm of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to expand its ExoSphere exploration platform.
The Teachers’ Venture Growth (TVG), the late-stage venture arm of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, led the funding and was joined in the Series D funding round with Blackbird Ventures, Hostplus, Horizons Ventures, Artesian Venture Partners and Alumni Ventures.
TVG’s senior managing director, Rick Prostko, said Wednesday that Ontario Teachers were proud to support Fleet Space’s work in accelerating the energy transition.
“Current methods fail to meet the growing demand for critical minerals,” he said in a statement. “Fleet Space’s advanced 3-D subsurface imaging and AI tools transform the industry sustainably and help achieve global net-zero targets.”
Private firm Fleet Space uses satellite technology, AI and real-time 3-D imaging to speed up critical mineral searches. The funds raised increased the outfit’s valuation to $525 million.
Ontario Teachers had C$255.8 billion in net assets as of June 30. It holds diverse assets, including a 2019 investment in Elon Musk’s reusable rocket firm, SpaceX. Past mining-related investments include Teck Resources (TSX: TECK.A, TECK.B; NYSE: TECK).
Scaling innovation
Fleet Space CFO, Federico Tata Nardini, stressed the funding’s importance. “Securing this investment during a challenging venture capital market demonstrates strong confidence in our mission,” he said Wednesday in a release. “It enables us to scale innovation and address critical mineral shortages.”
A Series D funding round is a late-stage financing event. A company raises capital from investors to support its growth. This often involves scaling operations, entering new markets, or preparing for an IPO. At this stage, the company typically has a proven business model, established revenue streams and significant market traction.
Founded in 2015 by Flavia Tata Nardini and Matt Pearson, Fleet Space expanded fast. Nardini is a former European Space Agency propulsion engineer. Pearson is an aerospace entrepreneur. The company now operates in the US, Canada, Chile and Luxembourg. It has over 130 employees from 37 countries.
Last month, Fleet Space partnered with IsoEnergy (TSX: ISO). They plan to deploy ExoSphere Discovery tech at IsoEnergy’s Larocque East uranium project in Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin. This initiative identified six new priority drill targets at the Larocque East Project, home to the high-grade Hurricane uranium deposit.
In October, it partnered with Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO; LSE: RIO; NYSE: RIO) to advance exploration at the Rincon lithium project in Argentina. At Rincon, ExoSphere’s subsurface mapping covers 100 sq. km of salt flats and subvolcanic structures.
Space frontier
Fleet Space is also advancing off-Earth exploration. A variant of its ExoSphere seismic sensor tech, called SPIDER, will launch on the Moon in 2026 via a NASA CLPs initiative.
NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative aims to enable rapid, frequent and affordable access to the lunar surface by partnering with American companies to deliver science and technology payloads. This technology has been tested broadly on Earth through collaborations with MIT Media Lab and others.
Fleet Space CEO Matt Pearson sees this as a natural progression. “The convergence of innovation in space, AI and 3D-subsurface imaging represents a foundational pillar of the core technology set that will enable humanity to build permanent research stations on the Moon, Mars and beyond,” he said in a release.