Atomionics, a deeptech startup specialising in quantum sensing technologies, has closed a US$12.7 million (approximately £10.1 million) pre-Series A funding round.
Paspalis led the funding round, which saw participation from a diverse group of strategic investors, including BHP Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Wavemaker Partners, VU Venture Partners, SG Growth Capital, and Alex Turnbull.
Notably, Atomionics also counts Singapore’s SEEDS Capital (now known as SG Growth Capital), SGINNOVATE, and Cap Vista, the investment arm of Singapore Defense, among its broader investor base.
The funding will fuel Atomionics’s ambitious global expansion plans. In Australia, the company intends to expand nationwide with the strategic backing of Paspalis, establishing an office and building capabilities across the country. Early deployments and test-bedding opportunities are already underway in Australia’s Northern Territory, which offers vast potential for critical minerals but remains largely underexplored.
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Concurrently, Atomionics will establish a US office to expand its capabilities in North America. It will focus on resource exploration and potential dual-use applications for the commercial and defence sectors. With the backing of investors like In-Q-Tel, Atomionics will explore opportunities in national security and strategic resource applications, advancing both commercial and government partnerships.
Sahil Tapiawala, CEO and co-founder of Atomionics, said. “The strategic capital from investors with an interest in both Australia and North America gives us a way to accelerate the deployment of our quantum gravity sensors.”
“We will further use this capital to use quantum sensors to help find copper, lithium and other critical minerals, providing the mining and energy industries with an unprecedented ability to locate and assess resources sustainably. High-quality data is the foundation for AI-powered decision-making, and our sensors have the potential to acquire the most detailed gravity datasets ever collected,” Tapiawala added.
Atomionics’s core innovation lies in its Gravio device, a portable, basketball-sized sensor that functions as a “virtual X-ray” for the earth. This quantum gravimetry technology enables high-resolution subsurface mapping up to ten times faster than conventional methods. By combining ultra-sensitive quantum sensors with AI-driven interpretation, Gravio identifies what lies beneath the ground without needing to penetrate the earth or emit any electromagnetic radiation.
The underlying process, known as “cold atom interferometry,” is a cutting-edge scientific method typically constrained to atomic physics laboratories, used to detect phenomena like black holes and gravitational waves. Gravio packages this advanced science into a compact, field-deployable unit.
The Gravio device promises to “significantly” improve the efficiency and environmental footprint of resource exploration. Traditional methods are labour-intensive, often yielding low-resolution maps where one pixel represents an area as large as a football field, with drilling a “hit-or-miss process with only 10 per cent accuracy”. Gravio, conversely, can deliver maps with a spatial resolution comparable to a couple of pizza boxes, dramatically enhancing precision.
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By detecting the unique “gravity signature” of different masses and densities underground (such as dense metal ore deposits), Gravio enables the identification of critical minerals like lithium, copper, cobalt, and nickel, which are vital for electric vehicles and other modern technologies.
This represents a significant step towards a more precise and environmentally conscious approach to resource exploration and extraction, moving away from ecologically detrimental trial-and-error practices.
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