By Stuart Condie

An Australian startup that helps aircraft, ships and other vehicles navigate GPS dead zones has raised $110 million, hitting Silicon Valley's prized unicorn status as it seeks to accelerate growth in the U.S. and Europe.

Advanced Navigation builds artificial intelligence-assisted hardware that provides accurate location data including in areas where GPS is deliberately jammed, unreliable, or otherwise unavailable.

GPS -- short for Global Positioning System -- has long had dead spots, but its reliability has been further eroded by the emergence of cheap handheld devices that can drown out the satellite signals upon which it relies.

So-called jamming has been commonplace along the Russia-Ukraine border over recent years, and now the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world's oil is transported, is besieged by such electronic attacks.

Sydney-based Advanced Navigation seeks to avoid attacks by eschewing GPS entirely. Its bespoke units are packed with sensors that detect acceleration, velocity, and other variables. AI-powered software then combines and cross-checks data to provide an accurate location.

These so-called inertial navigation units, which range from the size of a matchbox to that of a Kleenex box, can be made for use in the air, on land, underground or underwater. Boeing, Airbus, and iron-ore miner BHP are already customers.

Advanced Navigation, which was already backed by KKR & Co., now wants to scale production and marketing in response to growing demand, Chief Executive Chris Shaw said.

The company completed its latest funding round this month at a valuation of more than $1 billion, Shaw said.

"It's not just for defense use. You've got all these oil tankers and everything getting lost in the strait because Iran and other people are jamming GPS in that region," Shaw said.

Against that backdrop, there is plenty of competition among companies trying to develop affordable and reliable GPS alternatives.

U.S.-listed Honeywell Systems is spinning off its aerospace unit into a separate division, while France's Safran has sold its navigation technology to customers including Finland's defense forces.

California-based Anello Photonics is working on microchip-sized inertial-navigation devices. Alphabet spinoff SandboxAQ and Australia's DeteQt are developing systems based on measurement of magnetic anomalies in the Earth.

"Geopolitical factors are really driving a lot of growth in our industry, " Shaw said.

Advanced Navigation expects to make more than $100 million in sales this year and is cash-flow positive, Shaw said. The company was generating about $60 million in revenue when it last raised capital in 2022.

The latest Series C round was led by Australia's AirTree Ventures, which previously backed local startups including visual-design platform Canva. Australia's sovereign National Reconstruction Fund contributed $35 million.

AirTree's investment was the third largest by the $460 million growth fund that closed last year, Partner Kelland Reilly said.

Advanced Navigation's cash-flow profile, presence in defense markets, and customer book had all become more attractive since it last raised capital, he said. Its valuation has doubled since then.

"They've really got the who's who list of customers that are buying the product. They're having a lot of success against some very large legacy companies, like a Honeywell or a Safran, who have been incumbents in this space," Reilly said.

Neither Honeywell or Safran responded to requests for comment.

Advanced Navigation has deployed more than 100,000 of its systems and generates about 50% of its revenue in the U.S. About 30% comes from Europe, and the remainder from Asia-Pacific.

Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull chairs Advanced Navigation's board, while former Central Intelligence Agency Director and KKR Partner David Petraeus advises on strategy, Shaw said.

"Over the last couple of years, our performance advantage over our competition has actually increased," Shaw said. "We're able to beat them in their home markets, which I think is a good sign."

Advanced Navigation has plans for a base in Huntsville, Alabama, that it expects will improve its chances of successfully pitching to security conscious customers who want to deal with U.S.-based companies.

"This will open up doors," Shaw said.

Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 18, 2026 10:53 ET (14:53 GMT)

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