HEO, the Australian non-Earth-imaging startup, announced Monday it closed a $25M Series B to expand its imaging network to GEO.
Beaten Zone Venture Partners led the round, which included participation from Australia’s National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC), DCode Capital and Wunala Capital, as well as existing investors Airtree and Salus Ventures.
“GEO is a kind of a weird orbit where governments will subsidize the crap out of capital-intensive solutions,” CEO Will Crowe told Payload. “So really critical that we get up there fast…We really want to give our customers confidence that they can rely on this—way more cost-effective—commercial solution.”
The high road: HEO operates a network of 50+ sensors on orbit. These sensors are a mix of cameras owned by partner constellations and HEO’s internally developed sensors flying as hosted payloads.
- HEO has already imputed Planet and BlackSky sensors into its network, which HEO is actively looking to grow further. “We would love to onboard Vantor, if they would have us,” said Crowe.
- HEO also purchased an in-orbit satellite from Satellogic in January, and is considering making other in-orbit satellite purchases down the line to further boost its network..
HEO plans to invest the new capital to keep the network growing through new HEO sensor deployments and more satellite-operator partnerships to grow its coverage. With the Series B, HEO aims to monitor 90% of all space objects on-orbit, according to Crowe.
HEO has also booked two launches to kickstart its sensor network in GEO, with the first expected to fly before the end of this year, and “reliable and repeatable” GEO imaging service beginning in 2027, according to the announcement. The first two sensors in GEO, however, are only the beginning of a campaign to get as many sensors flying as possible.
“Whoever has the most sensors in this game wins,” Crowe said. “Some time in the future—hopefully it’s less than 10 years from now—there will need to be 1,000 cameras plus in a variety of orbits in order to really well solve this problem, and we’re nowhere near there.”
More of a good thing: The Series B comes amid a successful few years at HEO.
Since raising its $8M Series A in 2023, the company has tripled its revenue year-over-year, in part due to HEO’s landing of major contracts from international governments.
- In February, HEO won a contract with the NRO to provide imagery under the office’s Strategic Commercial Enhancements CSO program.
- In July 2025, HEO was selected by the Australian Department of Defence to provide its sensors for a new sovereign LEO constellation, led by Optus.
- HEO is also working with the UKSA and Japan’s Ministry of Defense.
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