Sydney-based venture capital firm EVP has backed a A$4 million (US$2.6 million) capital raise by Australian drilling software-as-a-service company, CorePlan, which is growing an international customer base that includes BHP, Fortescue, Perenti and AngloGold Ashanti.
CorePlan’s Drilling Hub and Exploration Hub products, which supersede outdated paper and spreadsheet-based information systems, are now said to be used by nearly 80 companies in Australia, New Zealand, North America, South America, Southeast Asia, Africa and Europe.
“The platform is home to over 400,000 drill holes and has seen over 10 million metres drilled across both drilling contractors and miners,” CorePlan says.
Spun out of leading mining consulting group CSA Global by the consultancy’s head of data management and mapping, Alex Goulios, four-year-old CorePlan has been bootstrap-funded as it’s grown to about 30 people and circa-4000 users of its products.
Mineral exploration drilling programs costing millions, tens of millions and even hundreds of millions of dollars are still being managed using methods dating back several decades. Drilling contractors record information about their drilling activities using Progressive Logs of Drilling (PLODs), typically on a paper form or punched into a spreadsheet. Mining companies require this information to track the progress of their drilling program, pay contractors, meet statutory compliance obligations, and inform decision-making on mine planning and remediation.
Goulios founded CorePlan to digitise the workflows for mining companies and drilling contractors.
He said existing industry information management systems typically “stemmed from legacy providers selling multi-million-dollar custom development projects to large miners instead of committing to the development of comprehensive industry-wide modern software as a service offering to address the complexities of modern drill programs”.
“During my time at CSA Global, it became abundantly clear that specialised cloud-based software, tailored for exploration drilling, is an absolute necessity,” Goulios said.
“This shift is now more critical than ever due to the soaring demand for specific metals driven by the global transition to green energy.”
EVP, said to have more than A$250 million under management across a portfolio of over 40 software companies, targets B2B SaaS and marketplace companies across a range of industries.
“The CorePlan team has done an exceptional job in building a first-class product, servicing tier one global clients, and building a top team, all without outside capital,” EVP investment principal, Mark Velik said.
“CorePlan is leading the software space in the sector on how people in mining collaborate more effectively.
“Customer advocacy for the product is as strong as we’ve ever seen.”
