A Canadian pension plan venture fund has made a significant investment in Australia’s Fleet Space Technologies. It is the third investment they’ve made in a space company.
On December 12th, it was announced by Fleet Space that the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) venture capital arm, Teachers Venture Growth (TVG), led a successful USD$100M Series D fundraising round in Fleet Space Technologies with a USD$525M valuation.
TVG was joined by Blackbird Ventures, Hostplus, Horizons Ventures, Artesian Venture Partners, and Alumni Ventures in the investment round. And while a seeming international investment, there is an important Canadian factor at play that may not be immediately apparent.
Teachers’ Venture Growth investments
The OTPP is one of the largest pension plans in the world, and “invests strategically across key markets and sectors to deliver steady returns” according to their site. That focus on steady return is reflected in their portfolio, which (as of last summer) consists mostly of bonds, commodities, and comparatively mature equities in sectors like finance and real estate.
They invest in “innovative, late-stage companies” (Series B and onward) through the Teacher’s Venture Growth (TVG) arm, which has net investments of $7.5 billion as of the end of 2023. This includes companies in robotics, artificial intelligence, fraud detection, and even video games. Notably, there is no “cap on how much we can invest and limits on how long we can invest”.
TVG’s first investment in a space company, in what was then known as the Teachers’ Innovation Platform, was in 2019 in SpaceX. In 2023 it invested in Viasat. Both investments were over $200M.
Fleet’s ExoSphere and the Mining Sector
Based out of Beverley South Australia, Fleet Space was originally profiled in SpaceQ as a company focused on developing low-power satellite-based Internet of Things connectivity, especially to installations in remote locations.
The company now has its own constellation, with two new nanosats (Centaur-7 and Centaur-8) having just been launched as part of SpaceX’s Transporter-12 mission, but has since pivoted to focus on using the satellites to collect data from wireless battery-operated ground-based seismic sensors, called Geodes. The data is partially processed by the Geodes, then uploaded to the satellites using these low-power connections. The data is then processed using machine learning algorithms to create 3D visualizations of the subsurface, down to 2.5km of depth. The system is called “ExoSphere.”
In the announcement, Fleet said that the new round would be used to “expand the capabilities” of ExoSphere with a particular focus (according to an interview with SpaceNews) on reducing the sensors’ weight.
In that context, then, the TVG investment in Fleet Space begins to make more sense, as it’s directly relevant to resource extraction, a traditional Canadian business. 3D subsurface visualization is going to be a technology that’s very attractive to any number of resource-based Canadian businesses, especially in those involved in exploration for new resources.
And in the announcement, TVG’s Senior Managing Director, Rick Prostko, emphasized this focus on mining and resources in the investment. He cited “the ability to meet the rapidly increasing demand for critical minerals” as a “significant challenge” to achieving clean energy goals, and said that “current mineral exploration methods are inadequate for efficient discovery and production.” He said that Fleet’s technology, with its “advanced 3D subsurface imaging and AI analysis tools,” has the potential to “sustainably transform the industry.”
In turn, Fleet’s CEO and Co-Founder, Flavia Tata Nardini, said that these kinds of technologies are essential for a “clean energy future,” and that without them “we risk net-zero targets falling out of reach as the rate of new discoveries of energy transition minerals continues to decline.” She said that the technology “seamlessly integrates with and compliments modern mining operations,” and that it will allow for “making extraordinary discoveries with less environmental impact.”
A space-based investment for critical minerals
A subsequent conversation with Fleet made the nature of the “critical minerals” clearer, along with possible underlying reasons for TVG’s investment in what TVG’s Prostko described as “critical minerals”.
Fleet does have a Canadian presence, as it maintains an office in Ottawa. While questions to a Fleet spokesperson about the specific role of the Ottawa office were not answered, they did quote Nardini as saying that the goal was “establishing a presence in Canada as part of our global expansion,” and that it has “driven widespread adoption of space-enabled capabilities in Canada’s exploration sector, particularly in the Athabasca Basin.” Fleet does employ four Canadians based in Canada as part of its Geoscience team.
In the reply, Nardini also provided some more details on the specific clean-energy mineral in question, saying that a key focus was on satisfying “rising demand for high-grade uranium as a clean energy alternative.” This fits the focus on the Athabasca Basin, which is one of the world’s largest sources of uranium, and home to some of its largest uranium mines. In an earlier announcement, Fleet also announced that they would be partnering with Saskatoon based IsoEnergy at their Larocque East project to use Fleet’s technology to search for uranium deposits.
With all of that, TVG’s actual investment becomes a Canadian investment in its own way.
While it may seem like leading a fundraising round for a space company would indicate another investment into the space sector writ large, it is actually more of an investment into technology that contributes to the Canadian resource sector. And, specifically, it is an investment into uranium — a key Canadian resource and competitive advantage — as well as the kinds of technologies that can enable its efficient discovery and extraction.
