Arlula Raises $3.4m to Reshape Earth Observation Data Infrastructure

Sydney-based space technology startup Arlula has announced a new $3.4 million capital raise, reflecting fast‑growing global demand for sovereign space capability and AI‑enabled intelligence solutions. The oversubscribed round was led by Paspalis Capital, with participation from Main Sequence Ventures, Startmate and Moonshot, and follows earlier backing from Lockheed Martin Ventures.

The funding comes as governments and enterprises confront a new bottleneck in space: not the access to satellites themselves, but the speed and reliability of turning space data into usable intelligence. While satellite constellations continue to expand, many of the systems for tasking satellites, processing imagery and integrating outputs into operational environments remain fragmented and heavily manual.

Arlula is tackling this challenge through its Earth Observation Data Infrastructure (EODI) software, which automates satellite tasking and manages the end‑to‑end flow of data from collection through to delivery and application. Its GeoStack platform allows governments and businesses to build “virtual” intelligence capabilities without necessarily owning satellites, supporting coordinating access to multiple providers while orchestrating complex mission workflows.

By automating traditionally manual processes, Arlula’s technology can reduce delivery times for critical information from days to minutes, a step‑change for defence, emergency response and other time‑sensitive operations. Rather than competing with satellite operators or analytics firms, Arlula acts as a coordination layer between them, making it easier for customers to tap into the growing volume of space‑based data.

The company already works with government and commercial clients across the Indo‑Pacific, Europe and North America, including support for defence programs involving the US Space Force through its partnership with Saber Astronautics. With the new investment, Arlula plans to expand its engineering, product and delivery teams in Sydney to meet rising demand and continue scaling its platform.

“Access to satellite imagery is no longer the constraint – speed and reliability are,” said Arlula co-founder and CEO Sebastian Chaoui. “The infrastructure needed to task satellites, process data and deliver it into operational systems is still largely manual. We’re building the software layer to automate that entire workflow.”

The new funding will be used to grow Arlula’s engineering and product teams and support a rising pipeline of defence, government and commercial work. "We’re now scaling both the platform and the team,” said co-founder and COO Arran Salerno. “We’re actively recruiting across engineering, product and delivery – particularly in roles focused on building and scaling core infrastructure. It’s a rare opportunity to work on foundational systems at the intersection of space, defence and AI at a time when the sector is being defined.”

As space‑based sensing and analytics become central to defence, security and commercial decision‑making, Arlula is positioning itself as a core enabler in the emerging space data infrastructure market.