Xona Space Systems – a company that is developing a network of small satellites to provide high-precision navigation services – announced an oversubscribed $19 million Series A funding round led by Future Ventures and Seraphim Space. And new investors NGP Capital, Industrious Ventures, Murata Electronics, Space Capital, and Aloniq also joined the round.
This funding round will accelerate the deployment of Xona’s low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite network as they drive towards commercialization. With this funding round, Xona will begin beta operations of its PULSAR satellite service, which is aimed at providing the robust precision guidance needed for intelligent and autonomous technologies to scale beyond highly structured environments.
Compared to GPS, PULSAR offers orders of magnitude improvements in accuracy, availability, and security, which are crucial for a future filled with autonomous systems and for protecting vital national infrastructure. And major industries like agriculture, automotive, and defense are eager to transition to automation but are continuously plagued by unstructured environments and inadequate GPS performance. Xona’s PULSAR enables these devices to expand beyond their current limits by enabling them to confidently determine their location to within a few centimeters, even if they have never operated at that location before.
Xona’s team—made up of top navigation and space experts from SpaceX, Ford, NASA, and Blue Origin—has made remarkable progress recently in the areas of satellite development, user equipment integration, and commercialization, with development kits now available for sale. Xona’s partners and customers span US government agencies as well as industry giants, including the US Space Force and Spirent.
KEY QUOTES:
“A century ago, people looked to the North Star for trusted guidance when other methods were unavailable. AI and automation are the future – our PULSAR service aims to be for these industries what the North Star was for humanity in previous centuries.”
“Xona is a pioneer not only in precision LEO navigation but also the commercialization of satellite navigation itself. This brings with it many new challenges across all aspects of the company. This round is a testament to our team’s ability to overcome these challenges, and has armed us with the resources we need to bring our vision to life.”
- Brian Manning, CEO and co-founder of Xona
“After half a century of use, our dependence on GPS is absolute. Outages could cause incalculable damage to the global economy, while enhancement opens up whole new industries. Waiting for GPS to fail, or for hostile powers to spoof it, is not an option for our security or commercial industries. Xona and the pioneering team are executing on building the GPS the modern era needs and we’re delighted to continue to support their transformative vision.”
- Rob Desborough, General Partner at Seraphim Space
“We have been searching for over a decade for the next great space company that will have a transformational impact on the world. Xona is building a powerful, precise and protected platform for global geolocation services. Much of the economy, from autonomous vehicles to maps and asset tracking rely on GNSS from space. With current offerings, the signals are weak and thus, easily lost in buildings, urban areas, and areas with signal interference. Much like Starlink was for communications links, Xona’s LEO constellation of satellites can provide a more robust and powerful solution than current systems operating in higher orbits, while preserving compatibility with end user equipment. I am thrilled to be joining the visionary and talented team of Xona.”
- Steve Jurvetson, co-founder and managing partner at Future Ventures
