Next-Gen Satellite Navigation: Our Investment in Xona Space Systems
The space sector is booming. With space tourism stoking public interest to new highs, space solutions are riding a record wave of investment, building on the $7.6 billion invested in 2020.
The former rocket engineer in me delights at the growing enthusiasm for space, while my current investor self poses the typical nagging questions of product viability, operational scalability, as well as path to revenue and earnings.
Fortunately, even in crowded markets, there are early-stage startups that offer the complete package — a compelling vision, disruptive tech, a feasible business model, an experienced team, and a solid path to product-market fit. That’s why I’m truly excited to announce our investment in Xona Space Systems, who’s building the next generation of satellite navigation systems.
Based in San Mateo, California, the Xona founding team includes Brian Manning (CEO), Tyler Reid (CTO), Bryan Chan (director of business development), and Adrien Perkins (director of navigation systems). Having worked at places like SpaceX, Stanford University’s GPS Lab, and Ford, the team brings impressive backgrounds in aerospace, mechanical engineering, and GPS technology. Of course, the deep tech background is necessary but hardly sufficient without their real-world experience building and launching satellites, rockets, airplanes, and (most importantly) businesses.
From a constellation of small satellites that orbit the earth 25x closer than traditional satellites, Xona’s Pulsar™ precision LEO PNT (Positioning, Navigation, and Timing) service is designed to provide unprecedented precision, security, and interference mitigation to modern devices and applications.
Frankly, an upgrade to the previous generation of GPS satellite navigation systems is long overdue. In comparison to GPS, Xona’s satellite service is well on its way to provide 10x better accuracy and 100x better interference mitigation. They’ve already successfully tested their prototype navigation system at an automotive test range, and will be launching their first orbital mission in 2022 to demonstrate the system.
Xona’s technology also unlocks widespread scalability of new applications that were off-limits to GPS, including aerial mobility, smart agriculture, and all-weather autonomy. For example, while GPS pioneered turn-by-turn vehicle navigation, it’s just not accurate, fast, or reliable enough to support autonomous driving. Xona’s technology promises these key capabilities that autonomous systems would require. This is just one of many reasons why we’re so looking forward to the launch of Xona’s constellation and navigation service.
As explorers on a mission to discover what’s next for Toyota, we’re thrilled to venture into space with Xona Space Systems and participate in their latest funding round, co-led by Seraphim Capital and MaC Ventures. Check out the Xona Space Systems website and the Toyota Ventures portfolio page to learn more.
