Xona raises $250 million to build a commercial rival to GPS
Satellite startup Xona has raised $250 million in a Series D led by Future Ventures, valuing the company at $2.45 billion (€2.26 billion), according to Xona and Forbes. Its Pulsar network is designed to work alongside GPS; Xona says six satellites launched this week, with four expected to support beta services in several countries from early 2027.
Bottom line — Xona has raised more than €526 million ($570 million) in total and says customer services are due to start in 2027.
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Forbes reported that Future Ventures contributed $78.5 million (€72.1 million) to the round.
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Xona says it will use the funding to expand satellite production, add spacecraft and build capacity for worldwide service.
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The company says Pulsar signals can be up to 100 times stronger than GPS and accurate to the centimetre.
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Xona says its Pulsar-0 test satellite completed more than 500 transmissions with positioning accuracy better than 2 centimetres.
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Two of the six newly launched satellites were designed and built in-house to test Xona’s spacecraft architecture.
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Canada committed C$15 million (€10.1 million) toward a C$64.8 million (€43.6 million) Xona project to build a manufacturing and mission operations site in Montréal; iPolitics reports the framework for navigation resilience comes without new funding or requirements.
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Forbes reported that four satellites are expected to support customers including Topcon, which makes positioning products for agriculture and construction.