Focal Point’s investment boost will revolutionise accuracy of GPS and satellite navigation
Focal Point Positioning, the Cambridge-based deep-tech company revolutionising the accuracy of GPS and other global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), has announced £6m Series B funding from Draper Esprit.
Operating out of Cambridge’s Regent Street and Bristol, with a team drawn from Cambridge University’s Experimental and Theoretical Physics department, BAE Systems and the European Space Agency, Focal Point’s world-leading IP solves the fundamental limitations of satellite positioning systems such as GPS, Galileo, GLONASS and BeiDou.
From ‘blue dot’ mapping accuracy on wearables and mobiles, to safety of autonomous vehicles and drones, to lower cost and lower battery consumption for industrial IoT devices, to security and protection from spoofing, Focal Point’s technologies address the global frustrations of inaccurate GNSS systems, which are critical to the accurate functioning of large swathes of modern technology.
Inaccurate satellite positioning is a perennial problem caused by obscured, reflected and weak satellite signals, resulting in positioning and timing errors on GNSS-dependent devices.
The ‘Jupiter Plots’ shown here, for instance, are unique views of the sky generate by Focal Point based on the information that the user ‘sees’ coming into the receiver/chip. This illustrates how signal is isolated from noise, both reflected signals and spoofer signals. No other solution can do this.
There are applications closer to home of course, especially in cities and built environments,.
The challenge of reflected and obscured signals has also become an increasingly pressing security concern with the rise of location-based services such as ride hailing, autonomous vehicles, robots and IoT devices, all of which rely on accurate positioning to be able to operate effectively and safely in cities and industrial environments.
Reliance on current GNSS systems also exposes devices such as autonomous vehicles, aircraft, drones and robots to criminal activities.
Focal Point CEO Ramsey Faragher said: “This is an important moment for our team. Signing our first deal with u-blox to integrate Supercorrelation into a commercial chip has increased the demand for our products from a multitude of different industries and use cases.
“This funding will help us to meet that demand and enable Supercorrelation and D-Tail to improve the lives and businesses of people across the globe.”
Draper Esprit venture partner David Cummings commented: “The inaccuracy and security weakness of current GNSS technology is a global concern for consumers, policymakers and businesses alike, but Ramsey and the team at FocalPoint have made huge progress in solving both of these critical legacy issues.
“At Draper Esprit we’re really excited to be backing them through the next stage of growth as this next-generation positioning technology is rolled out to devices we all rely on.”
The new round follows a £4m Series A round raised in February 2017.
