Xona Space Systems Closes $19 Million Round To Build GPS Alternative

Accelerating the deployment of a low Earth orbit (LEO) alternative to GPS, Xona Space Systems this week closed a $19 million Series A round of funding.  The new round, led by Future Ventures and Seraphim Space, features new investors NGP Capital, Industrious Ventures, Murata Electronics, Space Capital and Aloniq.

With this new funding, Xona said it will begin beta operations of its PULSAR satellite service, which the company said “brings orders of magnitude improvements in accuracy, availability and security” over GPS.  The company says this new accuracy and signal availability is critical for such use cases as agriculture, autonomous vehicles and defense.

“A century ago, people looked to the North Star for trusted guidance when other methods were unavailable,” said Brian Manning, Xona CEO and co-founder, in a statement. “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.”

One of Xona’s foundational investors, Seraphim Space, went further, saying that the world’s dependence on GPS could cause incalculable damage to a global economy.  “Waiting for GPS to fail, or for hostile powers to spoof it, is not an option for our security or commercial industries,” said Rob Desborough, Seraphim Space general partner in a statement. “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.”

Manning has been outspoken about the vulnerability of the GPS signal, issued a statement in March following reports that U.S. cell phones and other devices are receiving and processing signals from Chinese and Russian satellite—in violation of FCC rules.