exactEarth Ltd. (“exactEarth” or the “Company”) (TSX: XCT), a leading provider of Satellite AIS data services, announced today that its investee company, Myriota Pty Ltd (“Myriota”) of Adelaide, Australia, has raised USD$15.6 million in a Series A preference share financing.
The Series A round was led by Australian VC firms Main Sequence Ventures and Blue Sky Venture Capital and included Boeing Horizon X Ventures, Right Click Capital and Singtel Innov8. It is globally the largest round to date for a tech startup using ‘Space 2.0 for IoT’. It is the first investment outside the United States for Boeing Horizon X Ventures.
“This is a great transaction for Myriota and we congratulate them on securing significant growth capital from investors that are well-known and respected in our industry,” said Peter Mabson, CEO of exactEarth. “Myriota are at the forefront of the next generation satellite Internet of Things market, creating a disruptively low-cost solution for tracking and monitoring a broad range of goods and assets. This ‘up-round’ of financing brings in growth capital from a strong investment group and will allow Myriota to advance the development of this exciting business. From exactEarth’s perspective, in addition to our prior investment in Myriota, we continue to explore new ways to work together to help them bring these innovative solutions to market.”
In November 2015, exactEarth invested AUD$2.0 million of start-up funding in Myriota, and in 2016 provided AUD$400,000 of in-kind contributions. exactEarth did not participate in this Series A preference share round; post-funding the Company will retain an 18% ownership position through its interest in ordinary shares, a seat on the six-person board of directors, and an exclusive license to Myriota’s advanced signal processing technology in the maritime vessel field. exactEarth accounts for its investment in Myriota using the equity method on its balance sheet. As a result, even though the Series A funding round indicates that the value of our ordinary shares has increased, it will not impact the carrying value of the Company’s investment in Myriota.
About exactEarth Ltd.
exactEarth is a leading provider of global maritime vessel data for ship tracking and maritime situational awareness solutions. Since its establishment in 2009, exactEarth has pioneered a powerful new method of maritime surveillance called Satellite AIS (“S-AIS”) and has delivered to its clients a view of maritime behaviours across all regions of the world’s oceans unrestricted by terrestrial limitations. exactEarth has deployed an operational data processing supply chain involving a constellation of satellites, receiving ground stations, patented decoding algorithms and advanced “big data” processing and distribution facilities. This ground-breaking system provides a comprehensive picture of the location of AIS equipped maritime vessels throughout the world and allows exactEarth to deliver data and information services characterized by high performance, reliability, security and simplicity to large international markets. For more information, visit www.exactearth.com
