Maritime surveillance company lists on stock exchange

An Australian defence company using AI surveillance to track the oceans for military and criminal threats has listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Founded in August 2025, Overwatch Technologies develops intelligence and surveillance using autonomous systems, advanced sensors and data analytics to help government and security agencies monitor the seas.

Its hardware allows authorities to comb more territory without relying solely on traditional surveillance infrastructure.

Chief executive and co-founder Oscar Leslie has over 20 years experience in the Australian defence force, including in special services and signals.

"We're exceptionally lucky to have still the majority of our team having operational experience inside of either the military or the national security community," Mr Leslie told AAP.

"We have a really good understanding about what the government problem is, what are the challenges, and it's why we're not trying to replace them, but it enables us to work really closely with key government partners."

The vastness of the ocean, and the resources required to monitor coastlines manually is something that Overwatch wants to simplify.

"The ocean is an incredibly difficult area to monitor with crude assets, airplanes, naval vessels, coast guards," Mr Leslie said.

"Militaries are now realising that lower cost assets, autonomous assets, and those that can operate with fewer human steps in that loop ... is becoming more and more important."

The technology can also be used to monitor the safety of shipping vessels, or to catch other dangerous and criminal activities.

"We look at 2.64 tonnes of cocaine being found in the beaches of Fiji, and you wonder what was the vessel that transported it," Mr Leslie said.

"For countries like Australia with a smaller population and an enormous surface area, both our land and our sea, we need to adopt technologies like this to achieve better coverage."

The company's initial public offering raised of $8 million at an offer price of 20 cents per share.

Overwatch's shares listed at 19 cents and quickly dipped to 16 cents after hitting the ASX at 11am AEDT.