A Madison company that has developed quantum sensors for navigating underwater, underground and in other environments where global positioning systems are unreliable, has raised $1.8 million in pre-seed funding to prototype its sensors and conduct trials to refine its technology.
Dirac Labs, a quantum-enabled navigation company spun out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, raised funds from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, gener8tor, the Wisconsin Entrepreneurship Hub and TitletownTech, a venture capital firm formed from a collaboration with Microsoft and the Green Bay Packers.
Since GPS does not work underwater or underground, for instance, it is of limited utility for certain defense missions, autonomous vehicles and other applications.
Dirac Labs’ quantum sensor is designed to plug into the GPS device ports on airplanes, submarines and other vehicles without reengineering the platforms.
The process of making the sensor combines quantum sensing, artificial intelligence and semiconductor-compatible manufacturing.
“GPS is global but not universal,” Sanket Deshpande, co-founder and CEO of Dirac Labs, said in a press release. “The signals have never reached underground or underwater, where a growing share of exploration, mining and defense work happens.”
Madison has a burgeoning quantum scene, and the heart of the local quantum ecosystem is innovation coming out of UW-Madison, Greg Keenan, partner at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation’s venture fund, WARF Ventures, told In Business Madison staff journalist Brittney Kenaston in a recent story.
