Beaten Zone Venture Partners Backs Zendir in AU$3M+ Seed Round to Advance Space-Cyber Defence Capabilities

Beaten Zone Venture Partners (BZV) shared its participation in the AU$3M+ Seed round of Zendir (formerly Nominal Systems), a digital engineering spin-out of UNSW Canberra Space that is transforming the way space and Defence missions are designed, tested, and delivered. 

Founded in 2019 by Dr Christopher Capon and Dr Brenton Smith, Zendir provides a digital twin platform with simulation software solutions for spacecraft and satellites that enables teams to model, test, and validate complex systems before launch. Its system-level digital twin spans mission design, verification, and operations, reducing risk, shortening development timelines, and improving outcomes on orbit and in defence environments. 

Co-led by Beaten Zone Venture Partners and Investible, the over-subscribed round included participation from existing investor Galileo Ventures, as well as from new investors TEN13, Jelix Ventures, Innovation Bay, and other angel investors. The funds raised from this round will be used to capitalise on the company’s current market momentum by accelerating international expansion and scaling deployments across Defence and commercial space programs in Australia, the UK, and North America. 

“Zendir is addressing one of the fastest-emerging challenges in national security, securing and optimising the space domain through digital engineering. Their platform reduces mission risk, enables sovereign control, and improves the survivability of assets in contested environments,” said Steve Baxter, Founder and Lead Investor of Beaten Zone Venture Partners. “This is a sovereign capability play that fits squarely within our thesis.” 

From satellite design configuration to data-driven digital twins for operations, Zendir’s products have quickly become the go-to software for leading space and defence organisations. The growth potential for Zendir in the space and defence industries is significant – yet only a portion of the total market opportunity Zendir is uniquely positioned to capture – as almost everything is a complex system, and every system needs a unique digital twin. 

  

Inside the Investment  

Beaten Zone Venture Partners believes Zendir presents a unique opportunity because: 

• Exceptionally strong team with significant industry experience and deep technical knowledge: Founded by two of the industry’s leading experts and supported by an equally impressive team and advisory board with proven track record in the space and tech industries – the Zendir team has a deep understanding of the problem it’s solving, and the technical knowledge, sector experience, and industry networks to do so. 

• Converging trends in a rapidly evolving and expanding market presenting unique dynamics and a critical need for a solution like Zendir’s: The global space market has nearly doubled over the past decade and is expected to reach ~US$1.1T by 2030, driven by advances in IoT, AI/ML, and advanced computing that have lowered barriers to entry and unlocked new opportunities across data, applications, and services. Yet with 7 in 10 missions failing and a 20x increase in active satellites projected by 2030, there is an urgent and critical need for modern and sophisticated tools to ensure mission reliability at scale – a challenge that extends far beyond space, as accelerating digital transformation and rising interconnectivity drive growing complexity across all industries. 

• Novel technology and differentiated product offering providing cross-industry application opportunities: With its flexible, modular plug-and-play solutions, Zendir has become Australia’s leading provider of satellite digital engineering software. Space is just the start though, with billions of complex systems around the world that could benefit from Zendir’s digital twin technology and software solutions. 

• Sovereign capability with early traction: As Defence space capability grows and the level of sophistication required to successfully execute increases rapidly, the need for industry players to adopt digital solutions is accelerating to ensure decision-making is fast but highly accurate. As a sovereign Australian digital twin company, Zendir provides a solution for organisations with simple and actionable insights to deliver successful missions in a complex operating environment. Built for interoperability with existing defence modelling frameworks, supporting mission rehearsal, anomaly resolution, and hardware-in-the-loop testing creates lower barriers to adoption. With solutions from satellite design configuration to data-driven digital twins for operations, Zendir’s products have quickly become the go-to software – as evidenced by the company’s contract with the UK Ministry of Defence Space Command.  

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ABOUT BEATEN ZONE VENTURE PARTNERS 

Beaten Zone Venture Partners is headquartered in Brisbane, Australia and invests in sovereign early-stage businesses with products that have material military use and contribute to Australia’s national security and the survivability of allied warfighters. The scope precludes investments involved with controversial weapons, such as landmines, or other capabilities that would violate Australian ratified treaties or agreements. 

 

ABOUT STEVE BAXTER (www.stevebaxter.com.au)  

Steve is a passionate Australian, Queenslander and ADF veteran. He has been investing into the Australian technology scene since 2011 with over 90 companies funded. He was the founder of South Australian dial up ISP SE Net, and co-founder of Brisbane based whole telecommunication company PIPE Networks. Following successful exits, Steve started River City Labs, Startup Catalyst, River Pitch and TEN13 as well spending one year as Queensland Chief Entrepreneur and four seasons on the Channel Ten show ‘Shark Tank Australia’. 

 

MEDIA CONTACT 

Stephen Baxter Lead Investor and Founding Partner (steve@beatenzone.vc) 

Peta Ellis, General Manager (peta@beatenzone.vc) 

 

 

Disclaimer 

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