HEO, a Sydney-based space intelligence company that uses satellites to photograph and analyse other objects in orbit, raised $25m (about A$37m) in a Series B round, the company said on 21 September 2026.
Beaten Zone Venture Partners, the firm founded by investor Steve Baxter, led the round. Australia's National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC), Dcode Capital and Wunala Capital joined, along with existing investors Airtree and Salus Ventures. Startup Daily reported that the NRFC put in $10m.
HEO did not disclose a valuation.
“Some of the world’s most critical infrastructure is operating tens of thousands of kilometres above Earth, but our ability to see and understand what is happening to it remains limited.”Dr William Crowe, CEO and Co-Founder, HEO
What HEO does
HEO specialises in what it calls non-Earth imaging: taking pictures of satellites, debris and other spacecraft rather than of the ground. It combines images from cameras on existing Earth-observation satellites with data from its own sensors. Its software finds imaging opportunities, tasks the satellites, processes the pictures and uses AI to assess what an object is, what condition it is in and what it may be doing.
The company says it runs the largest commercial network of this kind, with access to more than 50 sensors in orbit. It has designed, built and launched eight of its own sensors, which are entering a second generation, and offers its tools through a platform called HEO Inspect 3.0.
HEO said its customers include the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, Australia's Department of Defence, Japan's Ministry of Defense, the UK Space Agency, Astroscale and Bull. It reported that revenue had tripled year on year but did not give figures. It has operations in Australia, France, Japan, the UK and the US.
What the money is for
The funding will take HEO's network into geostationary orbit (GEO) for the first time. Many of the most valuable telecommunications, weather and national-security satellites sit in GEO, but commercial imagery of spacecraft there is scarce, the company said.
HEO has booked its first two GEO launches, starting later in 2026, and aims to provide reliable, repeatable GEO imaging coverage in 2027. The money will also pay for new sensor deployments, more partnerships with satellite operators and further work on its software and AI models.
NRFC chief executive David Gall said the investment would let HEO monitor 90% of the space objects of interest to Australian and allied defence and intelligence agencies. Baxter said expanding to GEO would make HEO the first mover in a market where government demand had been validated.
The funding so far
HEO was founded in 2017 and emerged from the UNSW Founders programme, according to Startup Daily. Its chief executive and co-founder is Dr William Crowe.
Startup Daily reported that the company raised a $3m seed round in 2021, led by Winton Group founder David Harding and Y Combinator, and a $12m Series A led by Airtree in 2023. HEO's own announcement describes that Series A as $8m. The sources do not explain the difference, which may reflect reporting in different currencies.
Company website: heospace.com