Locus Lock, a Colorado-based developer of software-defined GNSS technology, has secured a strategic funding round led by Range Ventures to expand its positioning technology for aerospace, defense and autonomous systems.
The round included participation from In-Q-Tel (IQT), Backswing Ventures, Aurelia Foundry, Techstars, Golden Seeds, Creations VC, POV Ventures and other investors. The company did not disclose the amount raised.
Locus Lock develops software-defined GNSS receivers designed to provide reliable positioning, navigation and timing in environments affected by GNSS jamming, spoofing and signal disruption.
“We’ve spent the past several years demonstrating Locus Lock in real-world RF environments with some of the top defense primes, putting the technology through the kinds of conditions our customers and partners face in the field,” said Hailey Nichols, founder and CEO of Locus Lock. “The threat is advancing at software speed, but the rest of the industry is still trying to counter it at hardware speed. Locus Lock closes that gap by bringing the adaptability of software to resilient positioning, allowing capabilities to evolve as quickly as the threats do.”
Unlike traditional GNSS receivers that rely heavily on specialized hardware, Locus Lock processes advanced GNSS signals through software running on general-purpose computing systems. This approach allows positioning capabilities to be updated as operating conditions, missions and threats change.
“Positioning and navigation underpin nearly every modern defense system and the threats to GPS are evolving faster than traditional receiver development cycles,” said Nat Puffer, Partner at IQT. “A software-defined approach creates the ability to adapt positioning capabilities much more rapidly as threats, missions, and platforms change. Locus Lock is building an architecture for PNT that reflects where both the technology and the operating environment are going and aligns to the demand signal we’ve seen from the U.S. and allied nations.”
“When networking, radio and automotive moved from purpose-built hardware to software on general-purpose compute, multi-year design cycles became release cycles measured in weeks, and entire industries were reshaped as a result. GNSS is one of the last critical technologies still tied to hardware, and it’s the one where adaptability matters most,” said Chris Erickson, partner at Range Ventures. “Jamming and spoofing evolve at software speed, and new constellations and signals are coming online faster than any hardware roadmap can absorb. A receiver that has to be redesigned to keep up will always be behind. Hailey and the team have proven a software-defined architecture works in real contested environments, and we think it becomes the foundation for how every autonomous platform navigates.”
The company said its technology has been developed and field-tested with aerospace and defense customers and is now being integrated across platforms spanning air, ground, maritime and space.
Locus Lock will use the new funding to support customer deployments, advance its software-defined positioning, navigation and timing capabilities, launch its new product and expand its engineering team.
The company also announced that its new Leo200 software-defined GNSS receiver platform will launch in October 2026. The platform will initially be offered through an Evaluation Kit, allowing engineers to test and integrate the technology into aerospace, defense and autonomous systems.
Locus Lock is headquartered in Westminster, Colorado, and focuses on resilient positioning technology for contested and degraded environments.
