Exyn joins DOE-selected mining robot project in $29.5M, 17-project programme
Exyn Technologies said on Oct 19 it is on a national lab-led team whose MAP-POD underground mining project was selected for DOE award talks under a $29.5 million, 17-project Mine of the Future programme; Exyn would supply near-zero-drift navigation for ground vehicles.
Exyn Technologies, the Philadelphia maker of autonomy software for robots in GPS-denied spaces, said in a GlobeNewswire release on Oct 19 that it is part of a national laboratory-led team whose underground mining project has been selected by the US Department of Energy for award negotiations. Exyn is expected to supply navigation with near-zero drift for the project's ground vehicles. [Company profile](/companies/exyn-technologies).
The project, called MAP-POD (Mining Autonomous Platform for Prospecting and Ore Discovery), is one of 17 national laboratory projects that the DOE's Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation picked for a combined $29.5 million under its Mine of the Future initiative, the release said. That is about $1.74 million per project on average by our arithmetic. The release does not name the lead laboratory or say how much of the money, if any, would reach Exyn, and selection for negotiations is not yet an award.
What Exyn brings underground
MAP-POD is meant to combine autonomous robots, sensing and AI to speed up underground mapping and identify minerals in real time. Exyn says its ExynAI software has reached what it calls Level 4B autonomy, letting aerial and ground robots navigate and map without prior maps or continuous human control. At Eldorado Gold's Tüprag mine in Turkey, the company said, its Exyn Nexys system cut survey capture from about 40 minutes to about 5 minutes per scan, roughly eight times faster.
Interim chief executive Ben Williams, who is also chief operating officer, said the project fits the three pilot programmes Exyn is running to automate the digitisation of physical sites and could open new commercial and government markets.
- Jul 11, 2019
- Series A
- $16M
- Dec 22, 2022
- Series B
- $35M
- Sep 5, 2023
- Series B second close
- Not disclosed
- May 18, 2026
- Nasdaq listing
- n/a
MEKAWIRE database, disclosed rounds only, as of Oct 19, 2026. Disclosed private funding: at least $51M (16 + 35).
As of Oct 19, 2026
MEKAWIRE analysis
For a newly listed company, the value of this selection is credibility with federal buyers rather than revenue.
Exyn listed on Nasdaq on May 18, 154 days ago, after a private history of at least $51 million in disclosed rounds, and 1,243 days separated its Series B from the listing. A role inside a $29.5 million programme spread across 17 projects is small money, and the release's own forward-looking caveats cover the outcome of DOE negotiations, timing, scope and funding. The stronger reading is strategic: the release links mining autonomy to defence uses in GPS-denied and communications-constrained places, where the same software could find larger budgets.
Signals to watch are the DOE's final award terms for MAP-POD, the name of the lead laboratory, and Exyn's next quarterly filing, which would show whether the three pilots convert into contracts.
- Nasdaq EXYN since May 18, 2026
- MAP-POD, national laboratory-led, selected for DOE award negotiations
- Oct 19, 2026, GlobeNewswire release
- Near-zero drift navigation for ground vehicles
- DOE Mine of the Future: 17 national lab projects, $29.5M total (about $1.74M each on average)
- Tüprag mine (Eldorado Gold): survey capture about 40 to about 5 minutes per scan