San Francisco, CA, December 20, 2017—Swift Navigation, a San Francisco-based tech firm building centimeter-accurate GPS technology to power a world of autonomous vehicles, experienced major growth in 2017, developing multiple innovative GNSS products, forming new partnerships and forging geographical expansion.
Swift Navigation’s 2017 highlights included
- Doubled its team size
- Raised a $34 Million Series B Round of Financing
- Shipped 2 New Products—Piksi® Multi and Duro™
- Recognized in lists of Top 50 Best Places to Work and Top 25 Companies for Diversity
- Expanded operations internationally and to Detroit, Michigan
- Announced technology partnerships with Carnegie Robotics and PolySync
- Awarded Forbes 30 Under 30
Below are detailed highlights from a year of advancements:
Raised $34 Million Series B Round for Next Generation of High-Accuracy GPS for Autonomous Vehicles. The company raised a $34 million Series B financing round led by Forest Baskett and Greg Papadopoulos of New Enterprise Associates (NEA), with participation from existing investors Eclipse and First Round Capital. To date, the company has raised a total of $47.6 million in funding.
Shipped Piksi Multi, Swift’s multi-band, multi-constellation centimeter-accurate GNSS receiver. With a breakthrough price of $595, Piksi Multi allows more people access to precision-GNSS than ever before.
Shipped Duro, a Ruggedized Version of Piksi Multi. Swift Navigation and Carnegie Robotics LLC (CRL), the industry leader in reliable robotic components and systems, announced their first joint product, Duro, a ruggedized version of Swift Navigation’s Piksi Multi dual-frequency RTK GNSS receiver. Being a military-grade, cast-aluminum enclosure, Duro is particularly apt for Robotics, Precision Agriculture, Mapping, Military, Outdoor Industrial and Maritime applications.
Announced a Technology Partnership with PolySync. Swift Navigation teamed up with PolySync, a leader that is building the tools and software infrastructure at the center of autonomous vehicle development. As a result of this technology-focused alliance, PolySync built a driver for Swift Navigation’s flagship product, Piksi Multi.
Enhanced its Centimeter-Accurate GNSS Technology with Multiple Piksi Multi Firmware Releases. Swift announced three firmware upgrades to the Piksi Multi GNSS Module in 2017, all free of charge to Swift customers. The releases provided improved performance and additional features such as initial support for a new constellation (GLONASS), expanded dynamic RTK application support as well as increased functionality.
Strengthened Commitment to Automotive with New Detroit Office and a New Vice President of Automotive. Joel Gibson joined the executive team as Vice President of Automotive. In his new position, Gibson opened a Swift Navigation office in Detroit to best serve automotive customers located in that market. He is responsible for Swift’s automotive strategy and automotive customer engagement.
Swift also expanded operations internationally, both in Europe and China.
Awarded Forbes 30 Under 30. Swift’s Co-Founders were named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 List for developing GPS receivers that at 100 times more accurate than the GPS in a typical smartphone. Additionally, Swift was honored to be Recognized in List of Top 50 Best Places to Work and Top 25 Companies for Diversity in Comparably’s 2017 Workplace Awards.
“2017 was a year of progress, innovation and exciting news,” said Timothy Harris, Co-Founder and CEO of Swift Navigation. “We are so proud of our team and accomplishments and look forward to another productive year in 2018. Stay tuned for continued exciting developments in the coming year.”
ABOUT SWIFT NAVIGATION
Swift Navigation, Inc. was founded in 2012 to make GPS positioning technology more accurate and affordable. Today Swift Navigation has gained a reputation for defining a new category of GNSS systems as the industry’s first low-cost, high accuracy real-time kinematics (RTK) receiver. Its GPS and GNSS positioning products are available a fraction of the price of the competition and deliver 100 times better accuracy than the GPS in a cell phone. Swift Navigation’s technology benefits a multitude of industries and applications—including autonomous vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), precision agriculture, robotics, surveying and space. With its innovation and technology honored by Inc.’s 2016 and Forbes 2017 30 Under 30 lists, Swift Navigation is enabling a world where fields farm themselves, drones fly safely and autonomous transportation can take you home. Learn more online at swiftnav.com, follow Swift on Twitter @Swiftnav