Start-Ups Boeing HorizonX invest in Australian Startup Myriota

The investment marks Boeing HorizonX´s 10th investment since its launch in Spring 2017 and is the first non-U.S. investment by the company.

Myriota is an Internet of Things (IoT) Start-Up, which aims to enable IoT accessibility for remote locations through direct-to-orbit connectivity. Nanosatellites collect data to enable two-way communications between low Earth orbit and transmitters on the ground. This platform is interesting for several industries such as logistics, defence, agriculture or maritime.

Steve Nordlund, vice president of Boeing HorizonX, said: "Part of the mission of Boeing HorizonX is to pursue and accelerate Innovations coming out of start-ups around the world. By investing in Myriota, we are proud to support Australia's start-up ecosystem and growing space industry [...] Myriota's technology influences how we think about space-based communications and connectivity in remote locations."

Myriota CEO Alex Grant added: "We formed Myriota to solve a major connectivity problem: hundreds of millions of devices that need to communicate but don't have cost-effective, battery-friendly networks to do so [...] The scale of this investment, with strong domestic venture capital leadership and strategic participation by global investors is significant for Myriota, and our vision to deliver IoT connectivity for everyone, everywhere."

Boeing will invest US$15 million in the company and with that expand its growing technology ecosystem in Australia. This year, Boeing has also announced to start space-related projects with CSIRO and the launch of the company´s largest autonomous systems program outside of the U.S. To support local start-ups, Boeing has invested several thousand US-Dollar in South-Australian companies.

To date, Boeing has 3,000 employees in Australia. Its portfolio includes the manufacturing of commercial aircraft components, research and development, as well as unmanned systems.