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Just two months after closing a $25 million Series A capital raise, Victorian-founded defence technology company Arkeus has officially launched a new advanced manufacturing facility at Ormeau on the Gold Coast to deliver a 20-fold increase in the company's production capability.
The facility, which is backed by a $1.48 million contribution from the Queensland Government through its $180.6 million Sovereign Industry Development Fund (SIDF), is currently under construction and expected to be fully operational in 2027.
Arkeus develops AI-powered hostile signal observation and reconnaissance technology, which is passive sensing systems designed to detect, classify and locate threats using electromagnetic signals.
The technology has been selected for the Australian Army's Wide Area Autonomous Surveillance program and has been deployed with the US Department of Defense.
The launch of the new facility comes after Arkeus secured its Series A in mid-May, led by QIC Ventures with participation from R+VC, Folklore Ventures, DYNE Ventures, Main Sequence Ventures, Salus Ventures and Beaten Zone Venture Partners.
Arkeus has already hired four senior Queensland-based team members, including the global VP of manufacturing Andrew Sim and plans to grow the Queensland team by up to 50 members in the next few years as part of its plans to ramp up its new manufacturing operations.
“Arkeus is just getting started on the possibilities for defence technology that can help drones and other unmanned craft to see, understand and act,” says Simon Olsen, founder and CEO of Arkeus.
“Thanks to SIDF, we are establishing this advanced manufacturing facility on the Gold Coast that will include new production and repair capabilities for our specialised AI-powered optical sensors.
“Our new Ormeau facility will allow us to significantly scale manufacturing, meet growing demand from Australian and U.S. defence agencies, and support the next stage of Arkeus’ growth.
“We see enormous opportunities to strengthen Queensland’s sovereign capabilities in advanced manufacturing for the defence sector, to grow export markets, and create skilled local jobs.”
Arkeus’ core technology, including hyperspectral optical radar systems, captures multiple layers of visual data simultaneously, allowing AI to detect, classify and track objects across any domain, day and night, and even in degraded or contested environments where traditional sensors struggle.
Rather than simply showing operators what a scene looks like, Arkeus’ systems extract meaning from data in real time, enabling faster, more accurate decisions at the edge without reliance on vulnerable communications links or remote processing.
Queensland’s Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie says the state’s $180.6 million SIDF “is about building sovereign capability across the state”.
"We've already announced some great projects in defence, biofuels, and biomedicine, but this one I'm particularly excited about,” says Bleijie.
He says the $1.48 million awarded to Arkeus is about building sovereign capability for drones and sensors “and for Queensland to stamp its authority in the defence space around the globe”.
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