Nirmesh Patel

Nirmesh Patel is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Xona Space Systems, a commercial space technology company based in San Mateo, California. Before launching the startup, he earned a PhD in Physics from Stanford University and worked as a research scientist at both IBM Research and the NASA Ames Research Center. Under his leadership, the Y Combinator-backed enterprise reached a $1 billion valuation in 2023 after securing more than $100 million in Series B funding to develop alternative satellite navigation technologies. Patel recently oversaw the deployment of the firm's initial positioning, navigation, and timing satellites in late 2023, followed by a strategic chip integration partnership with Qualcomm in March 2025. His career bridges advanced scientific research and commercial aerospace innovation, with a primary focus on building next-generation satellite infrastructure and scaling deep tech applications.