"Randall and I just looked at each other and said 'there has to be a better way'."

Subscription fee

They went on to build software, now hosted in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud, that can store all the engineering drawings, photos, 3D models and documents associated with a project, and make them accessible to everybody working on it.

For instance, there are more than 600 staff and contractors to Snowy Hydro Limited with access to data stored on RedEye relating to the building of Snowy Hydro 2.0, according to Mr Gerard.

The start-up charges a subscription fee based on the amount of data stored on its platform, rather than "creating a barrier to uptake" with a per-user charge, he added.

RedEye's first client was BHP, securing it in 2012 when according to Mr Gerard the Big Australian had a global "no cloud" policy.

"We had to work really hard to convince them why cloud was safer and would deliver more benefits," he said.

"If you think about how people use engineering data in the real world, if they're not using RedEye they're searching for it on their network drive, then sharing it in an uncontrolled manner via email or thumb drive. That's far more risky than having it centralised in the cloud."


In addition to AWS's security at the hardware level, Mr Gerard claimed RedEye's platform ensured every interaction was encrypted and left a full audit trail, with full back-up in the case of a catastrophe.

This level of security was required for RedEye to win its first US client, the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which controls one of the country's most critical pieces of infrastructure in the Hoover Dam.

Complex organisations

RedEye will use the new money for a sales push beyond its current $6 million revenue run rate, as well as a venture into the industrial internet, where it has already partnered with a mining company to create "digital twins" of equipment.

"We're taking sensor data off a dragline excavator, putting it into an algorithm and doing some machine learning to produce recommendations on maintenance planning, inspection schedules and when that piece of equipment should be upgraded," Mr Gerard said.

"Owners need control of their assets and we are about giving it to them."

RedEye walked away from a couple of term sheets during negotiations on its Series B, Mr Gerard revealed.

"We decided Energy Innovation Capital were the right partners for us because they're operators," he said.

"Their managing partner, George Coyle, founded the venture arms of Chevron and ConocoPhillips, so they understand how to get new technology into the big, complex organisations that are our potential clients."

RedEye's new head of North America, David VanderSchee, has a similar pedigree, previously running GE's North American oil and gas operations.

"That someone like him would look at a Brisbane start-up and get excited is very exciting for us," Mr Gerard said.