A Belmont-based mining technology company taking on industry giants like Caterpillar and Komatsu has secured its first external funding as it pursues international growth.
A Belmont-based mining technology company taking on industry giants like Caterpillar and Komatsu has secured its first external funding as it pursues international growth.
RaptorTech has raised $7 million in a deal put together by Sydney firm Blackpeak Capital.
Co-founder Jean Ferreira said he and his partner Aaron Locke had self-funded the business since it opened in 2018.
It has grown rapidly to the point it now has 50 employees, with a focus on the design, engineering and manufacture of its products.
“It reached a stage where self-funding just wasn’t tenable,” he said.
The company has a focus on machine guidance, fleet management and collision avoidance systems to boost the efficiency and safety of mining operations.
Having previously worked for Caterpillar dealer WesTrac, the two founders felt they could deliver a better service than the big companies like Cat, Komatsu, Hitachi and Hexagon.
“We aim to beat or match them,” Mr Ferreira said.
Its strategy includes a technology-as-a-service model that allows customers to make monthly payments rather than large upfront payments.
“That makes it more affordable for the smaller miners,” he said.
Its first customer was Adelaide-based Agile Mining Services and its second was Collie coal miner Griffin Coal.
Mr Ferreira said Griffin had achieved a 25 per cent lift in fleet productivity since adopting Raptor’s technology.
Its newest customer is Dallaglio Investments’ Eureka gold mine in Zimbabwe.
Since formally launching its technology last October, the business has built annual recurring revenue of $4 million.
That has been supplemented by consulting revenue and income from the distribution of machine control systems from other manufacturers.
That enabled the business to earn about $13 million in revenue last year.
Of this, it invested about $4 million in research and development.
Sydney-based Fifth Estate Asset Management was the lead investor in the $7 million funding round.
A global original equipment manufacturer also participated.
The deal valued the business at $36 million.
