For Point One Navigation, a startup based in San Francisco, the importance of "location, location, location" goes far beyond just real estate—and investors appear to share this perspective.
The company, which specializes in highly accurate location solutions, has secured $35 million in Series C funding, with Khosla Ventures leading the round. According to a source with knowledge of the transaction, this brings Point One Navigation’s valuation to $230 million after the investment.
Founded in 2016, Point One has created a precise positioning technology that can be used in any moving vehicle, from autonomous lawnmowers and drones to robots, cars, agricultural machinery, and even wearable devices for people.
When Point One talks about precise location, they mean it literally. Their positioning engine can pinpoint a location to within one centimeter under optimal conditions, co-founder Aaron Nathan shared with TechCrunch.
To reach this level of accuracy, Point One integrates an enhanced global navigation satellite system (GNSS), computer vision, and sensor fusion into an API. This API is typically delivered as software, since most modern vehicles—such as electric or luxury cars—already have the necessary hardware. For vehicles lacking this equipment, like farm machinery or emergency vehicles, Point One provides a dedicated chipset.
Initially, Point One targeted automotive customers, reflecting the optimism around autonomous vehicle technology at the time. This market still represents a significant portion of their income. While most client names remain confidential, the company did reveal that its technology powers advanced driver assistance and infotainment systems for an electric vehicle manufacturer, and is present in over 150,000 of their cars.
Point One has also secured deals with leading manufacturers in mowing and turf care, a distribution company operating a fleet of 300,000 last-mile delivery vehicles, and a global producer of street and racing motorcycles.
However, around 2021, after announcing its $10 million Series A funding, Point One began expanding into other industries, according to Nathan. This move significantly accelerated adoption. In the past year, the number of manufacturers using Point One Navigation’s platform has grown tenfold, now covering automotive, robotics, industrial, and wearable markets.
“And now the pace is only picking up,” Nathan remarked.
The newly raised Series C funds will be used to enhance all facets of Point One’s technology, including the Polaris RTK Network—a crucial hardware system that ensures centimeter-level accuracy even in remote areas across North America, Europe, and Asia.
“There’s a constant push for greater accuracy, whether it’s for precision farming, line painting, or lawn mowing,” said COO Tom Weeks to TechCrunch. “If you’re off by even 10 centimeters, you could end up in a flower bed. That’s why the industry is striving for accuracy within one to three centimeters.”
To deliver this level of precision, Point One spent eight years building its RTK Network, which consists of compact units about the size of a lunchbox, installed in secure places like cell tower sites to provide location corrections. For the network to be effective, these stations must be within 40 kilometers of the device or vehicle. This requires a dense network, which the company is actively expanding, Weeks explained.
“From the farming regions in the Midwest to the East Coast, there’s a need for high coverage because of the presence of people, agriculture, vehicles, and significant freight movement,” Weeks said. “We’re working to complete this network and are close to achieving it.”
The company is also enhancing its technology for indoor use. Currently, vehicles moving from outdoor areas into indoor parking structures maintain their precise location, but Nathan aims to extend this capability to industrial environments, such as factories where robots may operate exclusively indoors.
“Our next step—which this funding will help support—is to enable long-term indoor navigation as well,” he said. “Looking at our company’s evolution, our goal is to provide seamless location tracking everywhere, including indoors and across all sectors.”
