ZaiNar, a physical AI infrastructure company, has emerged from nine years in stealth with more than $100 million in funding at a valuation exceeding $1 billion. The company says it has developed a breakthrough platform that transforms existing wireless networks into a sensing system capable of continuously determining the precise location of devices and objects without relying on satellites, cameras, or additional device power and computing.
The company is positioning itself as the foundation layer for Physical AI, a market it expects to become one of the largest technology opportunities ever created. Physical AI refers to intelligent machines that operate autonomously at scale in the real world. ZaiNar argues that until now, AI systems have lacked centralized, real-time location data accurate to the sub-meter and continuously synchronized, limiting their ability to move and operate reliably in physical environments.
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Belmont, California, ZaiNar has filed more than 100 patents and has been issued 90, covering its phase-based time synchronization and network-computed positioning technology. The company says it has secured more than $450 million in contracts and memoranda of understanding and is commercially deployed across healthcare, construction, smart city, and industrial use cases on multiple continents.
ZaiNar’s core innovation centers on achieving sub-nanosecond time synchronization across existing 5G, WiFi, private cellular, and future wireless networks. Because radio waves travel approximately 30 centimeters per nanosecond, synchronization at the sub-nanosecond level enables sub-meter positioning accuracy. The company says this precision works indoors, outdoors, through walls, and around corners, using infrastructure that is already widely deployed.
Unlike GPS, which often lacks sub-meter accuracy in common use cases and struggles indoors or underground, or camera-based systems that require line of sight and increasing processing power to prevent drift, ZaiNar’s platform leverages existing wireless signals without requiring proprietary hardware installations. The technology is protocol-agnostic and designed to function across multiple wireless standards.
The company says its platform is already being used to help construction workers avoid hazard zones, assist healthcare teams in locating medical equipment, and enable coordinated autonomous operations across industries. It believes that physical AI capabilities do not require next-generation 6G networks or specialized robotics, but can run on today’s connectivity infrastructure.
Beyond positioning, ZaiNar notes that sub-nanosecond synchronization could have implications for data center performance by reducing packet buffer gaps, potentially increasing throughput without additional bandwidth or power. The company also highlights potential defense applications, positioning its approach as a terrestrial backup to GPS that is less susceptible to jamming or spoofing because it leverages existing cellular and WiFi signals.
ZaiNar counts Andreas Weigend, former Chief Scientist at Amazon, as an advisor. Its investors include Steve Jurvetson, Jerry Yang, Tom Gruber, Jaan Tallinn, and Nicholas Pritzker.
The company says it plans to accelerate global deployment with carrier and enterprise partners and expects to announce additional partnerships in the coming weeks.
KEY QUOTES:
“Physical AI needs a live, continuous feed of where everything is, and that dataset simply did not exist. By solving time synchronization at the sub-nanosecond level, we’ve turned existing infrastructure into the foundation layer for Physical AI. This funding accelerates deployment with carrier and enterprise partners globally.”
Daniel Jacker, CEO and Co-Founder, ZaiNar
“ZaiNar has solved a problem that’s stymied the industry for decades. Precise positioning without dedicated hardware infrastructure opens markets that were previously inaccessible.”
Steve Jurvetson, Board Member, ZaiNar; Board Member, SpaceX
“ZaiNar is building essential infrastructure for the next computing paradigm.”
Jerry Yang, Founding Partner, AME Cloud Ventures; Co-Founder, Yahoo!
“Whether in a hospital, on a construction site, or in a fulfillment center, knowing precisely where things are is crucial for making good decisions. I wish something like ZaiNar had existed when I was at Amazon: Not only would it have changed how we operated, but also where we set the bar.”
Dr. Andreas Weigend, Former Chief Scientist, Amazon
