Cofounded by Mesa Quantum CEO Sristy Agrawal and CTO Wale Lawal in 2023, the company has won a $1.9 million Space Force grant to demonstrate its alternative to GPS technology in military and civilian applications. J2 Ventures cofounder and managing partner, Alex Harstrick, told CNBC his fund backed Mesa Quantum in part because of the founders' extraordinary technical background. Harstrick said his fund hopes that Mesa Quantum will have its first demonstration of mass scale "atomic clocks" (quantum timing sensors) validated by a top-tier semiconductor manufacturing partner" in the next few years. "The U.S. government has established major initiatives to spur innovation in this area and is seeking to purchase a million quantum sensors each year -- if they can simply be mass-produced," she explained. With its grant funding and seed round in place, Agrawal said, Mesa Quantum will look to grow its team in Boulder, especially hiring atomic molecular and optical physicists, engineers and manufacturing experts this year.

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Persons: Truckers, Sristy Agrawal, Wale Lawal, Alex Harstrick, Agrawal, Lawal, Harstrick, He's, that's Organizations: GPS, Mesa Quantum, Space Force, J2 Ventures, CNBC, University of Colorado, National Institute of Standards, Technology, U.S . Air Force Academy, Rice University, Harvard, Mesa Quantum's Locations: Sao Paolo, Brazil, Richmond , Vermont, Ukraine, Boulder , Colorado, Boston, U.S, Boulder