Inertial Labs, which builds navigation solutions for varied businesses including defense, has raised $3.55 million, according to a listing on Crunchbase. The company, based in Paeonian Springs, Va., has so far raised $8.7 million, including a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense.
Established in 2001, Inertial Labs makes a variety of GPS-aided inertial navigation systems. These include inertial test systems, attitude and heading reference systems called AHRS, and autopilots. Such tools are deployed across land, air and sea to track movements of an assortment of things.
Far-reaching Applications
Inertial Labs’ real-time orientation tracking has far-reaching military and industrial applications, including in emerging autonomous self-driving cars. Its customers include commercial, industrial, aerospace and defense organizations in over 20 countries.
In January, Inertial Labs launched a new version of its LiDAR product — RESEPI, or Remote Sensing Payload Instrument. The Gen-II version claims a 175% increase in computing power, 700% improvement in memory capacity, and 50% rise in storage capacity. RESEPI can, notably, be integrated with drones, whose use has proliferated in recent years, and other platforms.
Inertial Labs has been led since 2010 by Jamie Marracini, a Virginia Tech electrical engineer with significant entrepreneurial experience. He founded and ran cybersecurity firm SecureForce and software maker Plesk, and has been a limited partner and advisor at Fortify.vc, an early-stage venture capital firm, since 2011. At Innalabs Holding, where he was a board member, Marracini helped raise over $45 million, and engineered its sale in 2013. He has also helped startups at Virginia Tech raise funds.
Key Acquisition
In 2021, Inertial Labs acquired South Dakota-based Memsense, a maker of high-performance inertial measurement units. Memsense makes inertial measurement units, electronic devices that use a combination of accelerometers, gyroscopes, and sometimes magnetometers to measure a body’s specific force, angular rate, and its orientation.
Commercial Real Estate
MacKenzie Companies
Law
Nemphos Braue
Financial Services / Investment Firms
Chesapeake Corporate Advisors
Commercial Real Estate
Monday Properties
Venture Capital
Blue Delta Capital Partners
Internet / Technology
Foxtrot Media
“Our strategic acquisition of Memsense brings together two high-growth companies with proven performance in solving some of the world’s most difficult stabilization and navigation problems,” Marraccini said, when the company announced the deal. “Our customers will benefit from our combined capabilities and resources.“
“Inertial Labs and Memsense will define the future of MEMS IMUs,” said Memsense CEO James Brunsch said, referring to microelectromechanical systems at the heart of inertial measurement units. “Our focus on innovation, our world-class team, and our strength in customer collaboration allows us to deliver the exact specs our customers need.”
Memsense’s customers include the US Army, for whom it designed a trajectory correction kit to control rocket systems, and a marine navigational aid to replace fiber optic gyros. It also serves the Navy, Air Force, defense contractors, and NASA.
