Best Aerospace, Maritime and Defense Tech Companies in South Africa
The 47 best Aerospace, Maritime and Defense Tech companies in South Africa in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: Aerobotics.
- prnewswire.com
- The Business Research Company
Our analysis of 50 Aerospace, Maritime and Defense Tech companies
$31.9b in tracked funding; 90% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2021.
Ranked: Best Aerospace, Maritime and Defense Tech companies in South Africa
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Stage | Founder | Founded | Tech stack | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aerobotics AI-powered yield forecasting for fruit growers, packers, and marketers | $27M | 68 mo ago | Series B | James Paterson Co-Founder & CEO | 2014 | WebflowYouTubeAmazon Web Services+22 | — |
| 2 | Simera Sense Provider of optical payload for satellites | $15M | 29 mo ago | Series A | Johann Du Toit CEO | 2017 | WordPressApple iCloud MailMicrosoft 365+26 | 2 job openings |
| 3 | Cloudline Operator of a platform providing cloud computing and data storage | $6M | 31 mo ago | Seed | Spencer Horne Founder | 2017 | WebflowYouTubeGSAP+17 | 1 partnership |
| 4 | CubeSpace Developer of attitude determination and control systems for small satellites | $2M | 17 mo ago | Seed | Jako Gerber Co-Founder | 2014 | D3Three.jsTailwind CSS+14 | — |
| 5 | Pyralink Manufacturer of micro rocket launch vehicles for space solutions | $1M | 38 mo ago | Seed | Thato Matjila Founder & CEO | 2022 | — | — |
| 6 | Passerine Aircraft Corporation Developer of VTOL aircraft | $120K | 98 mo ago | Seed | Matthew Whalley Founder & CEO | 2017 | — | — |
| 7 | Drone Fishing Develops drones for enterprises | $77K | 81 mo ago | Seed | Jacques Venter Founder & CEO | 2015 | PageFlyCart FunctionalityShopify+22 | — |
| 8 | Aerial Monitoring Solutions Custom built unmanned aerial vehicle for commercial and land applications | — | — | Unfunded | Adam Rosman Founder & Managing Director | 2013 | — | — |
Top 7 Aerospace, Maritime and Defense Tech companies in South Africa
#1
Seed · Stellenbosch, Western Cape · founded 2014$2.5Mraised▾
Developer of attitude determination and control systems for small satellites. The company provides integrated and distributed solutions, including reaction wheels, magnetorquers, magnetometers, and sun and horizon sensors. It offers customizable, plug-and-play systems with closed-loop control algorithms. The company's products support integration of third-party hardware and firmware upgrades.
- Feb 2025Seed$3M
- Feb 2024Seed$2.5M
#2
Series A · Somerset West, Western Cape · founded 2017 · 16 employees$14.8Mraised▾
Provider of optical payload for satellites. It provides users with end-to-end optical payloads for CubeSats, Microsatellites and Small Satellites to solve earth observation challenges. Its optical payloads product with different specification and features which provides real-time earth observation.
- Mar 2024Series A$14.8M
#3
Seed · Cape Town, Western Cape · founded 2017 · 18 employees$6Mraised▾
Operator of a platform providing cloud computing and data storage. It offers solutions for managing and processing information. The platform provides tools for data analysis and application development. It facilitates secure data management and scalable computing resources.
- Dec 2023Seed$6M
- Jul 2019Grant (prize money)—
#4
Series B · Cape Town, Western Cape · founded 2014 · 81 employees$27.1Mraised▾
AI-powered yield forecasting for fruit growers, packers, and marketers. The company provides a platform that leverages Artificial Intelligence and smartphone imagery to deliver accurate fruit size, color, and quality measurements. This enables better yield forecasting, business planning, and sales decisions. The platform combines AI measurements with user inputs, offering solutions for various crop types. Key features include precise fruit sizing and forecasting, automated blemish measurements, and post-harvest quality classification. The company's suite of tools enhances farming methods, helping improve profitability by optimizing packouts. The platform supports data-driven decision-making throughout the fruit production and distribution chain. The company offers pricing details and demo requests on its website.
- Dec 2020Series B$17M
- May 2020Series B$5.5M
- Feb 2019Series A$2M
- Jul 2018Series A$2M
#5
Seed · Cape Town, Western Cape · founded 2022$1.2Mraised▾
Manufacturer of micro rocket launch vehicles for space solutions. It provides users with a company focused on space technology, specifically designing and developing space-launching systems and rocket engines, satellite solar panels, and launch solutions for small payloads, such as nano- and cube-satellites. They provide military satellite communications services for the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) and its allies, offering high bandwidth secure communication systems and national security launch services. Its features include launch services, vehicle development, and engine cycle management.
- 2023Seed$1.2M
#6
Seed · Johannesburg, Gauteng · founded 2017 · 2 employees$120Kraised▾
Passerine Aircraft develops VTOL aircraft for commercial purposes. The aircraft claims to have multiple features including lift wing (powered by the lift device that offers low stall speed with high cruise speed). Both the aircraft are fixed-wings, have a payload capacity in the range of 6 kg-300 kg, and feature an onboard controller allowing it to be remotely piloted. They are capable of operating without take-off/landing infrastructure and of spot landings & standing take-offs. Claims that the products emulate the landing of Passerine bird i.e. a flared landing and then dropping onto their legs.
- 2018Seed$120K
#7
Seed · South Africa · founded 2015$77.3Kraised▾
Drone Fishing develops drones for enterprises. Its product offerings include Gannet Pro and Gannet Pro Plus which is quadcopter drone featuring an endurance of up to 25 min, a max speed of up to 65km/hr, and payload capacity of up to 3.5kg. In addition, it offers fishing bait and rods for Gannet and DJI drones. It sells its products through its website and provides worldwide delivery services within 3-5 business days.
- Nov 2019Seed$77.3K
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Aerospace, Maritime and Defense Tech coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time rising
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising
How research on Launch Vehicles is moving in South Africa
A read on the academic research around Launch Vehicles — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 14 South Africa-affiliated papers.
- University of KwaZulu-Natal9
- University of South Africa1
- University of the Western Cape1
- Durban University of Technology1
- Telkom1
- Aerospace engineering1→5
- Kerosene1
- Aerospace engineering1
- Rocket (weapon)1
- Rocket engine1
- Liquid-propellant rocket1
Where launch vehicles is researched across South Africa
Location clusters by institution affiliation — each city's volume, stance tone, and a quick read on its hot topic, what's advancing, the opening opportunity, and the main concern.
Common questions
Rohit lives in the feed. He covers what's moving right now — the funding rounds, launches and shifts breaking across the trade press — and ties them back to where the sector is heading.