Startup Developing GPS Alternative for Physical AI Earns $1 Billion-Valuation

Over the last two years, investors and researchers have flocked to startups helping bring AI into the physical world, from developing robot hands to the AI models that train robots to software to train self-driving cars. 

Now one startup says it can solve a perennial problem for robots and other AI-powered systems: getting precise location data that helps the bots detect other people and things.

ZaiNar, a Belmont, Calif.-based startup that has kept a low profile for much of its nine years, says it has developed an alternative to GPS that uses Wi-Fi and 5G cellular networks to provide superfast location information—even indoors, where satellite networks have trouble reaching. The company says it can do this without satellites, cameras or battery drain. 

The startup recently raised $10 million that valued the startup at $1 billion, its co-founder and CEO Daniel Jacker told me this week. SpaceX board member Steve Jurvetson sits on its board.