Locus Lock has raised a strategic funding round led by Range Ventures to accelerate deployment of its software-defined GNSS technology across aerospace, defense, and autonomous systems. In-Q-Tel participated alongside Backswing Ventures, Aurelia Foundry, Techstars, Golden Seeds, Creations VC, POV Ventures and other investors.
Locus Lock is developing positioning, navigation, and timing technology for environments where satellite navigation may be degraded, jammed, spoofed, or denied.
Rather than tying advanced GNSS capabilities to specialized hardware, Locus Lock runs signal processing in software on general-purpose computing infrastructure.
The architecture is designed to allow positioning capabilities to be updated as threats, missions and supported platforms change.
Locus Lock said it is already integrating its technology into platforms spanning air, ground, maritime, and space applications after years of development and field testing with aerospace and defense customers.
The new capital will support customer deployments, continued development of software-defined PNT technology, expansion of the engineering team and the launch of Leo200.
Leo200 is scheduled to launch in October 2026 as a software-defined GNSS receiver platform intended to provide a path from engineering evaluation through integration and deployment.
An Evaluation Kit will initially allow engineering teams to test the technology within their own systems.
KEY QUOTES:
“We’ve spent the past several years demonstrating Locus Lock in real-world RF environments with some of the top defense primes, putting the technology through the kinds of conditions our customers and partners face in the field. The threat is advancing at software speed, but the rest of the industry is still trying to counter it at hardware speed. Locus Lock closes that gap by bringing the adaptability of software to resilient positioning, allowing capabilities to evolve as quickly as the threats do.”
Hailey Nichols, Founder and CEO of Locus Lock
“Positioning and navigation underpin nearly every modern defense system and the threats to GPS are evolving faster than traditional receiver development cycles. A software-defined approach creates the ability to adapt positioning capabilities much more rapidly as threats, missions, and platforms change. Locus Lock is building an architecture for PNT that reflects where both the technology and the operating environment are going and aligns to the demand signal we’ve seen from the U.S. and allied nations.”
Nat Puffer, Partner at In-Q-Tel
“When networking, radio and automotive moved from purpose-built hardware to software on general-purpose compute, multi-year design cycles became release cycles measured in weeks, and entire industries were reshaped as a result. GNSS is one of the last critical technologies still tied to hardware, and it’s the one where adaptability matters most. Jamming and spoofing evolve at software speed, and new constellations and signals are coming online faster than any hardware roadmap can absorb. A receiver that has to be redesigned to keep up will always be behind. Hailey and the team have proven a software-defined architecture works in real contested environments, and we think it becomes the foundation for how every autonomous platform navigates.”
Chris Erickson, Partner at Range Ventures
