# Aaron Nathan

> Aaron Nathan is the CEO and co-founder of Point One Navigation, a San Francisco-based precision location company building the infrastructure layer for Physical AI. A Cornell-trained engineer who helped lead the university's DARPA Urban Challenge team, he went on to serve as Chief Architect at Coherent Navigation (acquired by Apple) before co-founding adeptCloud (acquired by Hightail). At Point One, he is turning centimeter-level GPS accuracy from a specialist tool into a universal platform — raising a $35M oversubscribed Series C from Khosla Ventures in 2025 to accelerate a mission: making precise location as ubiquitous as GPS itself.

- **Role:** CEO & Co-Founder at Point One Navigation
- **Organizations:** Point One Navigation, Cornell Autonomous Systems Lab, Coherent Navigation, Adept Cloud Inc., Hightail, AlphaPoint Corporation
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** High School Diploma, Northern Highlands Regional High School, B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Master of Engineering in Computer Science, Cornell University
- **Known for:** Led Cornell University's team in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge and 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge, Chief Architect at Coherent Navigation, which was acquired by Apple for its mapping/location technology, Co-founded adeptCloud, acquired by Hightail (Opentext) in 2013

## Career timeline

- **2005-2009** — Staff Researcher and team leader, Cornell Autonomous Systems Lab — led Cornell's DARPA Grand Challenge (2005) and DARPA Urban Challenge (2007) entries
- **2009-2013** — Chief Architect at Coherent Navigation, a high-precision GNSS company that was later acquired by Apple
- **2011** — Co-founded Adept Cloud, Inc., a secure cloud file-sharing startup, serving as CTO
- **2013** — Adept Cloud acquired by Hightail (formerly YouSendIt); Nathan joins as VP of Technology
- **2013-2015** — Vice President of Technology at Hightail — led Hightail Spaces launch, scaled infrastructure, rebuilt desktop software, oversaw 100+ person engineering team
- **2015** — Co-founded Point One Navigation with Bryan Galusha in San Francisco
- **2020** — Point One launches Polaris RTK corrections network and developer API
- **2021** — Point One raises $10M Series A
- **2025** — Point One Navigation raises $35M oversubscribed Series C led by Khosla Ventures, bringing total funding to $52.5M
- **2024** — Presented 'Effortless RTK: Advancing Precision in Field Robotics' at RoboBusiness 2024

## Achievements

- Led Cornell University's team in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge and 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge
- Chief Architect at Coherent Navigation, which was acquired by Apple for its mapping/location technology
- Co-founded adeptCloud, acquired by Hightail (Opentext) in 2013
- Built Point One Navigation into a $52M+ funded precision location platform
- Raised oversubscribed $35M Series C from Khosla Ventures in November 2025
- Developed 'online converging calibration' algorithms that auto-learn sensor orientation on vehicles — eliminating manual calibration
- Built Polaris, a globally distributed RTK correction network enabling centimeter-level GPS accuracy
- Scaled engineering leadership to 100+ person teams at Hightail

## Latest updates

- **2025-11** — Point One Navigation raises $35M oversubscribed Series C led by Khosla Ventures with participation from IA Ventures, UP Partners, and Alumni Ventures
- **2024-10** — Aaron Nathan presented 'Effortless RTK: Advancing Precision in Field Robotics' at RoboBusiness 2024 in Santa Clara
- **2023-05** — Featured on the Builder Nation Podcast discussing Point One's Polaris network and precision location for robotics

## Links

- Website: https://pointonenav.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronnathan/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/aaronmnathan

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/aaron-nathan
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-13