California-based satellite navigation company Xona has raised $250 million in Series D financing at a $2.45 billion valuation, accelerating development of a commercial satellite network intended to provide more precise and resilient positioning than conventional GPS.
The round was led by Future Ventures, the investment firm co-founded by early SpaceX investor Steve Jurvetson.
The financing comes approximately seven months after a $170 million Series C and brings Xona's total capital raised to more than $570 million.
Founded in 2019 by Brian Manning and fellow Stanford aerospace researchers, Xona is developing Pulsar, a satellite-based positioning, navigation and timing service.
The company is addressing limitations in the Global Navigation Satellite Systems infrastructure that supports much of the modern economy.
GPS satellites orbit approximately 20,000 kilometers above Earth, providing positioning and timing signals used by smartphones, transportation networks, telecommunications systems and financial infrastructure.
However, the signals that reach Earth are relatively weak.
They can be disrupted by interference, deliberate jamming or spoofing, creating problems for autonomous systems and critical infrastructure that depend on accurate positioning.
Xona's approach is to deploy a navigation constellation in low Earth orbit, much closer to the planet's surface.
That allows satellites to transmit stronger signals and potentially provide more accurate positioning.
Unlike consumer satellite internet networks, Pulsar is not primarily designed to deliver broadband connectivity.
Its purpose is to provide location and timing information that can supplement or, for supported applications, serve as an alternative to existing GNSS services.
Xona launched its experimental Pulsar-0 satellite in 2025 to validate the underlying technology.
The company reports conducting more than 500 transmissions and demonstrating positioning accuracy better than two centimeters under test conditions.
It also says existing commercial satellite navigation receivers can be upgraded to use the Pulsar signal through software changes, without requiring physical hardware modifications.
That compatibility could reduce adoption barriers for customers already operating expensive navigation equipment.
The funding announcement followed the launch of six additional Pulsar satellites.
Four are intended to begin providing commercial services in 2027. The remaining two are the first satellites designed and manufactured entirely in-house at Xona's Burlingame facility.
The company is building manufacturing capabilities intended to support production of multiple satellites per week.
It has also received Federal Communications Commission authorization related to its commercial navigation constellation.
The target markets include autonomous vehicles, drones, industrial robotics, defense, telecommunications and critical infrastructure.
These applications increasingly require precise positioning and reliable timing, often in environments where existing satellite navigation systems experience interference.
Xona is betting that navigation can become a commercially operated infrastructure service, following a broader trend of private companies developing satellite capabilities previously dominated by government programs.
Its potential advantage comes from vertical integration across satellites, signal design, receiver compatibility and network operations.
However, the technical demonstration of a positioning signal is different from operating a global navigation service.
Commercial customers will require dependable geographic coverage, system availability, accurate timing and predictable performance across changing atmospheric and operating conditions.
The company must also manufacture and launch a much larger constellation, manage satellite replacement cycles and secure continued regulatory access.
The new funding will support spacecraft production, network deployment and commercial operations.
Xona's immediate test is delivering its first usable commercial services in 2027 and demonstrating that its performance improvements are valuable enough for customers to adopt a new positioning infrastructure.