Pomegra
Montreal-based OSCP closed an undisclosed Series A led by New Science Ventures to scale photonic gyroscopes that keep drones and vehicles on course without GPS.
Key Takeaways
- OSCP announced a Series A on October 1, 2026, led by New Science Ventures, with Emerging Ventures and 2050 Capital participating.
- The round size and valuation are undisclosed.
- In OSCP's own test, its photonic IMU ended 5.7 m off ground truth after 21 minutes without GPS, against 20.5 m for a MEMS unit.
Lead
OSCP, formally OSCPS Motion Sensing Inc., announced on October 1, 2026 that it has closed a Series A financing led by New Science Ventures. Emerging Ventures and 2050 Capital also took part. The company did not disclose the amount or the valuation.
Founded in 2015 and based in Montreal, Quebec, OSCP builds photonic gyroscopes and inertial measurement units (IMUs) for navigation where satellite signals are jammed, spoofed or missing. It will spend the money on scaling production in Montreal, growing its engineering and sales teams, and bringing its next generation of photonic inertial sensors to market. Somu Subramaniam, founder and managing partner of New Science Ventures, has joined the board.
What Does OSCP Actually Build?
OSCP makes photonic gyroscopes and the IMUs built around them, manufactured in Canada and sold as ITAR-free. The pitch is tactical-grade accuracy at the size, weight, power and cost of MEMS sensors, which dominate small drones and ground robots today.
The company's MK2 IMU family now has ArduPilot support and an open-source ROS 2 driver, which lowers the integration work for drone and robotics teams. In August it introduced NavigationGate, an inertial navigation processing unit. OSCP has also qualified as a supplier on Canada's Defence Drone Initiative Marketplace.
How Much Better Is a Photonic Gyroscope Than MEMS?
In OSCP's published drive test, the photonic unit beat a MEMS unit by roughly a factor of 3.6. Over 21 minutes with satellite positioning denied, it finished 5.7 metres from ground truth. A MEMS unit in the same vehicle, on identical aiding, finished 20.5 metres out. The setup used a one-hertz speed input and no filter, so the gyroscope was the only variable.
That is a vendor-run test on a single drive, and buyers will want repeat results across temperature, vibration and longer durations. Still, the gap addresses the core objection to MEMS in contested environments: drift accumulates quickly once GNSS disappears. Fibre-optic gyroscopes close that gap but are bulkier and costlier, which is the space OSCP is targeting.
Why Is GPS-Free Navigation Attracting Capital Now?
Signal loss has moved from a niche military concern to a civilian one. CEO Kazem Zandi framed it this way: "Losing the satellite signal used to be a battlefield problem. Now it shows up over airports and shipping lanes." Jamming and spoofing near commercial infrastructure have pushed operators of drones, vessels and ground vehicles to look for navigation that does not depend on a satellite link.
Defence procurement adds a second pull. Canada's drone marketplace gives domestic suppliers a route to buyers, and an ITAR-free product avoids U.S. export-control friction when selling to allied customers. That combination is a stated selling point for a Canadian sensor maker.
What Does an Undisclosed Series A Tell Us?
Little about price, and that is the main caveat. Without an amount or valuation, the round cannot be compared with OSCP's earlier funding or with peers in inertial navigation. The investor lineup is more informative than the headline: a lead from a deep-tech specialist, plus a board seat, suggests the backers expect hardware work that takes years and a manufacturing build-out rather than a quick software multiple.
The risk is execution. Moving a photonic sensor from prototype performance to volume production, with consistent yields, is where many photonic hardware companies have stalled. Subramaniam's stated goal is "to build the world's best IMUs in terms of navigation performance, size, and cost," and that bar is set against established defence suppliers with long qualification histories.
What Comes Next for OSCP?
Near-term milestones are production scale in Montreal and the release of the next generation of its sensors. The Defence Drone Initiative Marketplace qualification, across three streams, gives the company a channel to test demand from Canadian defence buyers. Independent validation of the accuracy claims and the first volume deliveries will show whether the MEMS-cost proposition holds.
Outlook
OSCP has a Series A, a lead investor with a board seat and a measurable accuracy claim, but no disclosed figures to size the bet. Demand for navigation that survives GNSS denial is rising on both civilian and defence sides, and the company sits in a gap between cheap MEMS and expensive fibre-optic units. Production yield and third-party validation will decide whether that gap is large enough to build a business in.
