Former PM Malcolm Turnbull backs SA’s Myriota
A South Australian space technology company has raised $28 million, including $750,000 from a former Australian prime minister.
SA Business
Don't miss out on the headlines from SA Business. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has invested about $750,000 in SA satellite maker Myriota as part of its $28 million fundraising.
The Series B funding round was led by investors Hostplus and Main Sequence Ventures, and also includes support from the reinstated SA Venture Capital Fund.
Additional investors include In-Q-Tel Inc., Right Click Capital, Singtel Innov8 and Boeing HorizonX.
Mr Turnbull, who led the government to establish the Australian space agency in 2017, said Myriota was a “leader and innovator” in low cost, low power internet of things technology (IoT).
“They have paved the way in bringing products to market for global and local applications, both here in Australia’s flourishing space sector and across the world.
“Myriota’s growth plans will only strengthen its ability to provide industry-leading connectivity across its network of international partners,” said Mr Turnbull, who invested through his private investment company Turnbull & Partners Holdings.
This latest round of funding brings Myriota’s total funding to more than $50 million.
The new funding will help Myriota to continue to scale its platform globally to connect billions of devices.
Myriota’s satellites are designed to track assets, measure groundwater levels, keep tabs on weather stations and manage remote infrastructure.
Myriota is a spin-off from the University of South Australia’s Institute of Telecommunications Research, and was established in late 2015 after attracting $2 million in seed funding from Canadian investor and commercial partner exactEarth. and $500,000 from other investors.
The company says it has over 60 granted patents, and has more than tripled its headcount in the last two years.
“This is a critical time for IoT,” Myriota co-founder and chief executive Alex Grant said.
“With this new round of funding, we’ll continue to grow our network of satellites to deliver an affordable, environmentally friendly, and powerful solution to make data accessible for our global customer base,” Mr Grant said.
With its Series B raise, Myriota plans to continue to establish its global market leadership through bolstering its constellation of satellites to 25 by 2022.
Myriota, based at Lot Fourteen in Adelaide, recently bought assets from exactEarth.