Mining tech SMEs take out awards at industry accelerator event

Three of Australia’s most promising mining tech startups have taken home awards at the Igniting METS Accelerator, powered by KPMG Energise, program graduation night. The 12-week program culminated in pitch events with industry representatives and the investment community as well as a graduation event in Brisbane.

• Vayeron from Mackay took home the Customer Pitch Award, judged by corporate participants and potential clients for mining technology.
• XDR from Ipswich took home the Investor Pitch Award, judged by representatives from the investment community.
• In addition, Artemis Intelligent Robotic Systems from the Whitsunday Islands won the Program Choice Award, representing the most promising scale-up as judged by the Igniting METS program team.

Ric Gros, METS Ignited CEO commented: “The Igniting METS pilot program has assisted the latest wave of innovation within the sector. The achievements of our excellent participants in securing interest from large clients and investors demonstrates the wealth of opportunity in the sector.”

“It has been a very successful program for METS Ignited and has demonstrated the importance of regional innovation. The Program has evidenced the depth of innovation to provide a rich source of ideas and capability to solve industry challenges. Our role has been to assist these companies in turning their innovative ideas into commercial realities quickly and effectively enough to ensure they can grow and scale-up in a sustainable way while maintaining their competitive advantages.”

The Igniting METS accelerator is supported by Federal government as well as the Queensland Government. It provided eight scale-ups access to financial, marketing and technical advice to commercialise their products and services and gain additional traction in the mining sector. Delivered by the team behind the successful KPMG Energise accelerators, the scale-ups have been fast-tracked through an intensive 12-week program of deep-dive workshops, mentoring and support from industry leaders, entrepreneurs and subject matter experts from Queensland, around Australia, and beyond.

The eight Igniting METS graduates are:

Artemis Intelligent Robotic Systems Whitsunday Islands
Providing complete through wall analysis of tubular structures with three-dimensional reporting. Use next generation sensors to move reporting and prediction from best educated guess to quantitative knowledge.

Commit Works Brisbane
Software for the frontline team in the mining, energy and infrastructure industries including flexible shift plans and a visualization of the hazards, equipment, tasks and people.

FDP Mining Rockhampton
Mines and reprocesses tailings dams to deliver product coal from a resource currently considered waste.

Mackay Conveyor Equipment Mackay
Creators of Jibaroo, an underground maingate transfer system that collapses and stands with hydraulics. Jibaroo allows transportation in modular sections, significantly reducing installation time, people required and working at heights.

Paradyn Systems Melbourne
Creators of BlendOpt, an integrated pit-to-port planning and scheduling cloud platform built with advanced optimisation and machine learning technologies. BlendOpt delivers transformational step-change improvements to operational profitability within complex supply chains.

Quick Safety Toowoomba
A field force automation platform that enables the electrical industry to solve issues in compliance, risk and safety. Helps users eliminates legal liability and personal risk, while saving time and money.

Vayeron Mackay
An industrial IoT company which has developed the Smart-Idler – a sensor technology for monitoring and predicting conveyor roller failure in high capacity, time critical bulk materials handling conveyors used in mines, ports and processing plants.

XDR Ipswich
Designs, manufactures and sells fast, agile, safe and powerful onshore oil and gas well workover rigs. Coupled with its patented Power Drill Snub and Hands Free Systems, the XDR range of oilfield products is changing the way workover is conducted and significantly reducing the costs of well servicing.

Ashley Brown, KPMG Energise Program Director, commented: “This pilot program was conceived to test the ability of an accelerator to supercharge the growth of new Mining Equipment, Technology and Services scale-ups. Our program has confirmed our hypothesis about the innovation that sits within our regions, just waiting to be unlocked – with five of our eight participating scale-ups representing regional Qld. We are delighted to be presenting eight transformed businesses, all of whom have come on leaps and bounds over the past 12 weeks. Many have significant commercial and investment deals in the works, and we hope to be in a position to make further market announcements on that in the near term.

“By growing these companies, we can bring new jobs and industries to Australia’s regions. The potential is massive and we look forward to seeing how the first Igniting METS cohort progress in the months and years to come,” he added.

For more information on the Igniting METS accelerator visit their website.