For San Francisco-based startup Point One Navigation, the value of ‘location, location, location’ extends well beyond real estate. And investors seem to agree.
Point One Navigation, a startup that has developed precise location technology, has just raised $35 million in a Series C round led by Khosla Ventures. The company’s post-money valuation is now $230 million, according to one insider familiar with the deal.
Point One, which was founded in 2016, has developed precise location technology that can be applied to any vehicle that moves from autonomous consumer lawnmowers and drones to robots, consumer vehicles, agriculture equipment, and even humans donning a wearable device.
For Point One, precise location means exactly that. The technology, called a positioning engine, can determine location within 1 centimeter in the best conditions, co-founder Aaron Nathan told TechCrunch.
To achieve that, Point One has combined an augmented global navigation satellite system (GNSS), computer vision, and sensor fusion into an API. Typically that API is deployed as a software product because most new vehicles — like a slick EV or luxury car — come equipped with the necessary hardware. For vehicles like farm equipment or say a first responder that don’t, Point One adds a chipset into the mix.
Point One started with a focus on automotive clients — a sign of the bullish autonomous vehicle technology times. That sector continues to make up a large slice of its revenue. Point One couldn’t disclose most of its commercial customer names, but it did share that its technology supports the advanced driver assistance and infotainment needs of an EV maker and is included in more than 150,000 of its vehicles.
Point One also has contracts with some of the largest mowing and …