Mike Horton
Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Anello Photonics alongside Mario Paniccia; previously co-founded and led Crossbow Technology, a MEMS sensor-systems company.
Horton co-founded Crossbow Technology in 1995 while a UC Berkeley engineering student, building it into a MEMS-based sensor and inertial-navigation company that Moog Inc. acquired in June 2011. He co-founded Anello Photonics in 2018 with former Intel Fellow Mario Paniccia, serving as CTO until around February 2025. He then founded and led GEODNET, a decentralized GNSS reference-station network, and is now CEO/co-founder of HYFIX Spatial Intelligence (raised $15M as of April 2026), which builds American-made chips for drones and robotics.
Overview
- Role
- Co-Founder & CEO, HYFIX Spatial Intelligence
- Based in
- Santa Clara, CA
- Prior experience
- Crossbow Technology (co-founder & CEO), Anello Photonics (co-founder & CTO 2020-2025), GEODNET (founder)
Companies2
- CompanyGEODNETDecentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) of crowdsourced GNSS reference stations delivering centimeter-level RTK positioning corrections; founded in 2021, with Mike Horton as project creator/CEO.
- CompanyHYFIXSanta Clara, California semiconductor startup building an American-made system-on-chip platform (flight control, positioning, comms, compute) for drones and robotics; led by CEO Mike Horton; raised a 5M seed round in April 2026 led by Craft Ventures.
Affiliated funds0
No linked records yet.
Frequently asked
- Who is Mike Horton?
- Horton co-founded Crossbow Technology in 1995 while a UC Berkeley engineering student, building it into a MEMS-based sensor and inertial-navigation company that Moog Inc. acquired in June 2011. He co-founded Anello Photonics in 2018 with former Intel Fellow Mario Paniccia, serving as CTO until around February 2025. He then founded and led GEODNET, a decentralized GNSS reference-station network, and is now CEO/co-founder of HYFIX Spatial Intelligence (raised $15M as of April 2026), which builds American-made chips for drones and robotics.
- What is Mike Horton's role?
- Mike Horton is Co-Founder & CEO, HYFIX Spatial Intelligence, based in Santa Clara, CA.
- Where did Mike Horton work before?
- Mike Horton's prior roles include Crossbow Technology (co-founder & CEO), Anello Photonics (co-founder & CTO 2020-2025), GEODNET (founder).
Sources & citations6
Each claim links to its underlying source. Confidence reflects how directly the source supports the claim.
- 1
Mike Horton, Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder of Anello Photonics
PR Newswire: Anello Photonics Completes $28M Series A Funding for World's First Integrated SiPhOGVerified2021-10-20 - 2
Horton co-founded Crossbow Technology in August 1995 with his UC Berkeley advisor A. Richard Newton; earned B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering from UC Berkeley
Wikipedia: Mike A. HortonReported2026-08-08 - 3
Moog Inc. acquired Crossbow Technology Inc. in a deal announced June 3, 2011
Moog Inc.: Moog Acquires Crossbow Technologies Inc.Verified2011-06-03 - 4
Anello Photonics was founded in 2018 by former Intel Fellow Mario Paniccia and Mike Horton, combining Paniccia's silicon-photonics work with Horton's gyro/sensor background to build the SiPhOG photonic navigation chip
The Robot Report: ANELLO Photonics secures funding for inertial navigation in GPS-denied environmentsVerified2026-08-08 - 5
Mike Horton served as CTO of Anello Photonics, then became Project Creator of GEODNET, a decentralized GNSS reference-station network
U.S. House Committee on Agriculture: Written Testimony of Mike Horton, Project Creator, GEODNET FoundationVerified2025-04-09 - 6
Mike Horton is co-founder and CEO of HYFIX Spatial Intelligence, which raised $15M as of April 2026 to build American-made drone/robotics chips
DroneXL: Hyfix Raised $15M To Out-Engineer DJI. Now Comes The Hard PartVerified2026-04-17