An interesting company, albeit one still at a relatively early stage.
RocketDNA (which really would be better named DroneDNA) seems to be heading in the right direction by pivoting away from a commodity-like manual services business to an automated, data-centric "Drone-in-a-Box" model.
I haven't done any due diligence on the business, but taking Chris at face value a few things stood out.
First, they seem to have hit upon something that offers customers genuine utility and material cost savings. I really liked their commercial approach: essentially dropping the hardware on-site and charging on a "pay-per-use" basis initially to de-risk the decision for the customer. Given the explosive growth in flight numbers -- from ~20 flights a month manually to ~180+ flights autonomously -- it seems to be striking a chord with users. Having the public blessing of a tier 1 giant like Rio Tinto (who co-produced a video validating the tech) seems noteworthy too. If these majors genuinely see value, the expansion opportunity across their hundreds of global sites is nothing to sneeze at.
It's always nice to have a founder at the helm too (the listed entity is actually a product of various mergers, but he founded the underlying operational business 'Rocketmine' and has been in the trenches for over 12 years). He seems to have a clear, grounded understanding that they need to solve actual pain points, like labour shortages and safety, rather than just pushing a shiny narrative about drones. I also appreciated his discipline regarding product strategy; he explicitly stated they don't want to be "everything to everyone," but rather aim to solve "80% of the problems really well" to ensure scalability.
There seems to be a bit of optionality here too. As Chris put it, the hardware is just the "ticket to the game". The real moat and margin potential lie in the downstream "Data as a Service" managing, processing, and interpreting the visual data for various mine departments (geology, environmental, etc.) that previously couldn't access it. He even hinted at future integrations where autonomous mine machinery could trigger drone flights automatically, without human intervention.
He did mention the possibility of M&A to facilitate overseas expansion, but that seemed a distant priority given the sheer size of the greenfield opportunity right here in Australia. At least, I hope it is. Too much capital has been wasted by Aussie small caps chasing global ambitions before they were ready.
Of course, this is a nano-cap with plenty of risks. While revenues are growing nicely (especially the 40% bump in the automated division), they are still cash flow negative. There is also likely a decent amount of ongoing development cost required to mature the software and security features to enterprise standards. Still, if the xBot rollout continues to show traction, it will serve as a potent demonstration that there is real, recurring demand for this kind of industrial automation.
You can access the transcript here: RocketDNA Transcript.pdf
And the AI summary is:
Company Strategy & Evolution
- Strategic Pivot: RocketDNA is transitioning from a traditional labor-intensive drone services provider (manual flights) to a technology-focused "Drone-in-a-Box" (autonomous hardware) and data automation company.
- The "Land and Expand" Model: The company employs a strategy of landing initial units (often via trials) which then become permanent fixtures, leading to fleet expansion as customers find more use cases.
- Long-Term Vision: Clark views RocketDNA ultimately as a data company rather than just a hardware operator, with the drone being merely the tool for data capture.
The "xBot" Solution (Hardware & Operations)
- Autonomous Infrastructure: The "xBot" is a ruggedized docking station that allows drones to take off, land, recharge, and upload data autonomously, without a pilot on-site.
- Remote Operations: Pilots are located in Remote Operating Centers (ROCs) in Perth and Adelaide, monitoring flights safely away from the mine pit.
- Reliability: The technology has reached a high level of maturity; out of nearly 30,000 missions, there have been only ~3 instances where the drone failed to land in the box (due to extreme weather), creating a <1% failure rate.
- Ease of Deployment: The units are assembled on a skid in Perth and designed for a "drop and go" deployment, operational within hours of arriving on site.
The Software Moat (SiteTube)
- Solving Data Friction: The real value proposition lies in SiteTube, their proprietary software that visualizes drone data. It solves the "interoperability" problem by ingesting data and making it immediately accessible via a web browser.
- User Experience vs. Legacy Software: Traditional mine site software is expensive (~$30k/seat), complex (requires weeks of training), and restricted to engineers. SiteTube democratizes this data, allowing diverse teams (environment, geology, management) to view site conditions instantly.
- High Engagement: The software has seen organic growth with zero internal marketing; over 650 enterprise users are registered, with ~11% logging in more than twice a day.
Market Dynamics & The Problem Solved
- Mining Skills Crisis: The primary driver for adoption is the severe shortage of skilled labor. Clark noted that fewer than 100 mining engineers graduated in Australia recently, and only 42% of surveyor roles are currently filled.
- Operational Bottlenecks: Manual surveyors are overworked and often ignore small data requests. An autonomous system moves a site from doing ~20 flights a month (manual) to 180–200 flights a month (autonomous), unlocking massive amounts of latent data demand.
- Safety & Efficiency: The system removes staff from dangerous open-pit environments and dangerous heat/dust conditions.
Commercials & Revenue Model
- Recurring Revenue: The business model is shifting toward recurring revenue streams (hardware lease + data subscription), providing greater financial visibility compared to one-off project work.
- Low Barrier to Entry: To overcome enterprise risk aversion, they offer "pay-per-use" or trial models. This de-risks the adoption for miners, who typically find the immediate ROI compels them to keep the unit permanently.
- Recent Growth: Revenue for the September quarter was ~$1.875m (up 13%), but significantly, xBot revenue was up 40%, validating the pivot strategy.
- Customer Validation: Major contracts with Rio Tinto (trial converted to 2-year deal) and BHP/BMA (recent ~$1.3m-$1.4m in orders) serve as key reference cases.
Future Outlook & Capital
- Focus on Australia: While they have African operations, the immediate focus is the Australian market due to the sheer size of the opportunity and the specific labor dynamics here.
- Product Roadmap: Future developments include Lidar integration for night flights and integrating with autonomous mine trucks to trigger drone flights automatically based on alarms or events.
- Capital Discipline: Clark emphasized a disciplined approach to spending, aiming for sustainable growth rather than "growing broke," acknowledging the need to balance R&D with cash preservation.
