Department 13 International (ASX:D13) has received firm commitments from new and existing shareholders to raise $5,543,790 at an issue price of $0.125 per share.
The placement was strongly supported by institutional investors particularly from the U.S. and Asia and was well oversubscribed.
Interestingly, the initial raise of $4.5 million was extended to $5.5 million, to partially satisfy extra demand.
Department 13 will use the proceeds from the placement to build-up inventory of hardware components of its Mesmer counter drone systems to meet growing sales demand.
Mesmer is a low power, non-kinetic drone mitigation solution, enabling an effective and safe method of protecting personnel and infrastructure from dangerous drones.
It provides automated detection and mitigation strategies, allowing the user to stop, redirect, land, or take total control of a target drone.
With increased worldwide drone activity that presents evolving security challenges, there is a growing interest in Department 13’s platform.
The first three months of 2017 were significant for the company with the launch of MESMER® Version 1.0, and first sales achieved with partners Booz Allen Hamilton in the U.S.
Furthermore, Department 13’s strategic partner in the Australasian region, EPE, has purchased the product on behalf of an end customer.
MESMER v1.0 hardware and first year software licenses range from US$250,000 per unit (depending upon configuration and enhanced capabilities) with recurring annual license fees.
Department 13 now has a substantial potential sales pipeline from current customer engagements for MESMER related sales in excess of $25 million over the next six months.
The anti-drone market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of circa 24% between 2017 and 2022, to reach US$1.14 billion by 2022.