Montana just sent another signal flare into the tech skyline. onX, the outdoor mapping powerhouse built for adventurers who trade boardrooms for backcountry, just landed a strategic investment from TCV, the same crew that’s scaled icons like Netflix, Strava, and Spotify. It’s not just funding. It’s a co-sign from one of the sharpest firms in growth equity.
The roots of this story trace back to 2009, when Eric Siegfried, 26 years old, a mechanical engineering grad from Montana State, got lost guiding a hunt in fading light. No signal, no boundaries, just gut instinct. Out of that moment came the spark for onX. With $27K of personal cash and a laser printer in his wife’s scrapbooking room, Siegfried started what would become a mapping revolution. The company has since grown from a one-man hustle into a 350+ person force headquartered in Missoula with base camps stretching from Bozeman to Austin, Salt Lake, Seattle, and beyond.
Today, onX powers the adventures of millions, hunters, off-roaders, hikers, anglers, backcountry skiers, all tapping into 985M acres of public land, 121M private properties, 615K+ miles of trails, and 60K campgrounds. Their tech stack is pure precision: bi-weekly Planet Labs satellite imagery, 3D terrain models, ATES avalanche mapping, offline navigation, and real-time weather data now backed by a T-Mobile/Starlink partnership.
Under CEO Laura Orvidas, who spent 18 years at Amazon mastering the art of scale, onX nearly tripled ARR in 3 years while growing 10x since its 2018 Series A. The company’s playbook is simple but lethal, expand vertical by vertical, from hunting to off-road, backcountry to fishing, with each product built by people who actually live the life. CTO Owen Samuels, CFO David Bedell, and COO Joshua Spitzer keep that flywheel tight, fusing Silicon Valley rigor with Montana grit.
Woody Marshall of TCV joins the board, an investor who literally uses the product to hunt and ski the same landscapes onX maps. That matters. This isn’t capital from 30,000 feet; it’s belief from someone in the snow, boots down, app open. Summit Partners and Madison Valley Partners remain locked in, keeping the long game alive.
This round fuels expansion of onX Fish across the Midwest, deeper satellite data integration, and the same mission Siegfried wrote into the DNA from day one, to awaken the adventurer in everyone. The message is clear: innovation doesn’t only come from coastal towers; sometimes it’s born in a Montana garage, tested in the cold, and scaled by people who still get dirt under their nails.
