Xona Space Systems, a small company developing low earth orbit (LEO) satellites for global positioning and navigation services as an alternative to the GPS constellation, has closed a new funding round that includes Lockheed Martin
’s [LMT] investment arm.
The latest funding round, led by First Spark Ventures, brings California-based Xona’s total funding to over $25 million.
Xona said the new funding will accelerate its development of its Pulsar system, which the company says will “provide resilient and trusted centimeter-level position anywhere on the globe.”
In May, the company launched a test satellite in orbit that will be used for demonstrations. A second satellite is planned for launch in 2023.
Xona said the latest investment will accelerate Pulsar through several critical design milestones, boost hiring, and build out a new research and development and manufacturing facility in California. Pulsar offers 10 times the accuracy of existing legacy GPS systems and is more affordable.
The company also says that the greater accuracy is needed for automotive autonomy, drones, and aerial mobility.
Other investors in the new funding round include SRI International’s SRI Ventures, Velvet Sea Ventures, Gaingels, Airstream Venture Partners and Space.VC. The company’s existing investors include Seraphim Space, Toyota Ventures, 1517 Fund, MaC Venture Capital, and Stellar Ventures.
Lockheed Martin Ventures recently doubled to $400 million the size of its capital fund.