Advanced Navigation gains $110 M funding to target autonomous systems sector

25 Mar 2026

As demand for non-GPS positioning, navigation, and timing tech “reaches an all-time high”.

Advanced Navigation, Sydney, Australia, a developer navigation and autonomous systems, has raised US $110million in a Series C funding round. The raise marks a definitive shift in the global autonomy race as national demand for alternative Positioning, Navigation, Timing (PNT) technologies reaches an all time high, the firm stated.

The round was led by Airtree Ventures, with strategic participation from Quadrant Private Equity and Australia’s National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC). The investors join existing backers including Main Sequence, KKR, In-Q-Tel, Alpha Intelligence Capital, Malcolm Turnbull AC, and Our Innovation Fund.

Chris Shaw, CEO and Co-founder, commented, “As autonomous vehicles scale into contested and high-stakes frontiers, the world’s reliance on any single navigation technology has evolved from a technical limitation into a systemic vulnerability. To power the next generation of autonomous systems, Advanced Navigation is combining deep learning software with high-precision hardware to help systems conquer the extremes across sea, land, air and space.”

Shaw added that Advanced Navigation’s “Hard Tech” approach to navigation has made the company a trusted partner for defense and technology giants, including Anduril, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Hanwha, BHP, Rheinmetall, and Intuitive Machines. Following a year of triple-digit growth, the company is accelerating its global expansion, significantly scaling its deep tech operational and engineering presence across the U.S. and European markets.

Shaw continued, “The era of relying on a single silver bullet for navigation is over. Across defense, energy transition, humanitarian response, and autonomous missions, certainty is required where GPS can no longer be trusted. The future belongs to intelligent systems that can sense, adapt, and navigate independently.

“At Advanced Navigation, we are building the resilient foundation by fusing high-precision inertial hardware with onboard intelligence, ensuring autonomous systems behave predictably in unpredictable environments. Joined by new world-class investors, we are accelerating this capability to set the global benchmark for assured PNT.”

Software-defined navigation

Leveraging its heritage in robotics, AI, and high-precision sensing, Advanced Navigation says it is deploying a layered, multi-sensor architecture designed to operate with total autonomy, even when GPS signals are degraded or lost.

At the core of this architecture is AdNav Intelligence (AI), the company’s software fusion engine. This combines and cross checks data from multiple sensors in real time, while adapting to a mission’s requirements. This approach ensures autonomous vehicles, aircraft, ships and robots understand exactly where they are and keep moving with confidence, no matter the environment.

The latest investment, says the company, will accelerate the establishment of PNT Centers of Excellence across these priority markets, anchoring the company’s next phase of global growth. The centers will embed highly specialized engineering teams directly within key regions, building trusted, on-the-ground capability that strengthens national resilience, secures supply chains, and reinforces long term technical leadership.

Kelland Reilly, a partner at investor Airtree, commented, “Advanced Navigation has built the leading solution in the positioning field and their rapid expansion into the U.S. and Europe marks a definitive shift for mission-critical industries as global demand converges around the precise use case they solve. We are excited to partner with Chris and the team as they scale into the next chapter.”

Louis Casey, a partner at backer Quadrant, added, “Advanced Navigation is at the forefront of autonomous systems for resilient navigation, pioneering solutions that redefine precision and reliability in defense and commercial applications. We are thrilled to partner with Chris and the team to support their accelerated global expansion.”

And David Gall, CEO at Australia’s NRFC, said, “The firm’s inertial navigation systems technology was developed in Australia, and we are proud to be investing in a company that commercializes Australian research while creating highly skilled STEM and manufacturing jobs. Advanced Navigation’s technology is precise, secure, reliable, and efficient, and its products are already being used in the mining, marine, and defense industries.”