Not many space companies want to reduce the world’s reliance on satellite infrastructure, but that’s the pitch that landed Australia-based Advanced Navigation a $110M Series C.
The company builds autonomous systems to maintain navigation in denied environments, such as when satellite GPS systems become unreliable—or in far out places like the Moon.
“The world’s reliance on any single navigation technology has evolved from a technical limitation into a systemic vulnerability,” CEO Chris Shaw said in a statement. “The future belongs to intelligent systems that can sense, adapt, and navigate independently.”
What’s inside: Airtree led the round, which included participation from Quadrant Private Equity and the Australian government’s National Reconstruction Fund Corporation. These investors join existing backers Main Sequence, KKR, In-Q-Tel, Alpha Intelligence Capital, OIF Ventures, and former Aussie PM Malcolm Turnbull.
Advanced Navigation plans to use the new capital:
- To accelerate the development of sensors that can work independent of GPS.
- To establish PNT Centers of Excellence across the US and Europe (where 80% of revenue is generated) to fortify its supply chain and to provide on-the-ground support.
Advanced Navigation’s solution lies in a high-precision inertial hardware that, when teamed with onboard intelligence, aims to reduce an autonomous system’s reliance on outside navigational inputs. The solution has attracted partners across the defense, maritime, and space landscape, including Anduril, NOAA, South Korean satellite manufacturer Hanwha Systems, mining giant BHP, German A&D prime Rheinmetall, and lunar company Intuitive Machines.
The top line: While Advanced Navigation’s customer base is broad, and in many cases focused on terrestrial operations, the company has a few products which focus on navigation in space.
- In 2024, Advanced Navigation launched Boreas X90 onboard Space Machines’ Optimus orbital-service vehicle—Australia’s largest ever private sat.
- Advanced Navigation also partnered with Intuitive Machines to deploy its LUNA module on a Moon-landing attempt NET 2027.
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NanoAvionics signed a multi-million-euro contract with South Korean space energy startup Flexell Space to supply solar arrays for a Korean national security satellite program, the companies announced today.
Under the agreement:
The agreement is much more than a transactional one, however. The companies are also exploring the integration of Flexell’s solar cells into NanoAvionics’ cubesat and microsat platforms, to reduce the cost of scalable, ultra-lightweight solar arrays.
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