Xona secures $250M Series D to accelerate Pulsar GPS constellation

Xona Space Systems has closed a $250 million Series D funding round at a $2.45 billion valuation. The company will use the capital to scale production and deployment of its Pulsar commercial GPS satellite constellation, aiming to begin service in 2027.

Steve Jurvetson led the round through Future Ventures. The financing brings Xona's total funding since its 2019 founding to over $570 million. The new funds are earmarked for delivering the commercial navigation service, expanding operational capacity, and supporting manufacturing and deployment of the satellite constellation.

Pulsar delivers centimeter-level precision with jamming resistance

Xona's Pulsar network is designed as a commercial upgrade to legacy GPS. Its signals are up to 100 times more powerful than conventional GPS. This enables centimeter-level precision, resistance to jamming and spoofing, and the potential for indoor signal reception.

The enhanced capability addresses growing vulnerabilities. Global navigation systems face increased jamming and spoofing incidents, such as disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz that affected over 2,000 ships. Xona's technology aims to provide higher precision and robustness for autonomous vehicles, robotics, aviation, and critical infrastructure.

FCC approval enables commercial GPS constellation operations

A key regulatory milestone was achieved in August. Xona became the first commercial GPS constellation to win FCC authorization for L-band broadcasting. This approval allows the private network to operate alongside government GNSS systems.

The authorization clears a major path for commercial service. It provides the necessary spectrum rights for Xona to deploy and operate its planned constellation.

Production scaling and satellite deployment progress

Xona is advancing its hardware deployment. In October, the company launched six Pulsar satellites on a SpaceX Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission. This was its largest launch to date.

The launch included four modified Pulsar-0 satellites from Aerospacelab, intended for beta service starting in early 2027. It also included two test satellites designed and manufactured in-house at Xona's Burlingame, California headquarters. The company opened a new production facility there in April and hired Waymo veteran Patrick Cadariu as COO to lead production scaling.

CEO Brian Manning targets producing 50 satellites annually by the end of 2027. The long-term plan is to build a constellation of approximately 258 satellites.

Demand is rising. "On the commercial side, we’re seeing strong demand signals across all types of innovations in autonomous vehicles and robotics, aviation, and critical infrastructure," said Brian Manning. Government interest is also growing due to jamming threats, with plans to test integrations with Army, Navy, and Air Force assets in 2025. The company received about $10.7 million from Canada to expand operations in Montreal.

Steve Jurvetson noted the round included additional participation from undisclosed new and existing investors. He is a longtime SpaceX board member and an early investor in Xona.

The company plans to begin serving early commercial users with a timing service in 2025.