Embodied AI for autonomous driving firm Wayve has raised $1.2bn (£887bn) in a Series D investment round, bringing its post-money valuation to $8.6bn (£6.3bn).
The funding aims to “accelerate the company’s shift from AI research leadership to scaled commercial deployment of its end-to-end AI platform”, it said.
The round was led by Eclipse, Balderton and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and brings in new investment from Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Baillie Gifford, British Business Bank, Icehouse Ventures, Schroders Capital and other global institutional investors.
Microsoft, NVIDIA and Uber participated in the round alongside Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Stellantis.
The cash supports the advancing of Wayve’s unified AI platform spanning L2+ “hands off” through L3/L4 “eyes off” driving across vehicles, brands and markets.
The firm will produce taxis with its technology in commercial trials with Uber this year. From 2027, drivers will be able to buy passenger vehicles equipped with Wayve’s AI Driver, starting with L2+ “hands-off” capability that allows the vehicle to steer, navigate and respond to traffic under driver supervision.
Alex Kendall, Co-Founder and CEO of Wayve, said:
“With $1.5 billion secured, we are building for a total addressable market that spans every vehicle that moves. Autonomy will not scale through city-by-city robotaxi deployments alone. It will scale through a trusted platform that automakers and fleets can deploy globally and improve continuously. This investment accelerates our path to widespread commercial deployment and positions us to build the autonomy layer that will power any vehicle everywhere.”
Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft:
“Wayve is pushing the frontier of embodied AI for autonomous driving, and Azure supports the scale, reliability, and safety needed to bring that innovation into the real world. Through our partnership and investment, we’re helping accelerate the path from breakthrough research to scaled commercial deployment with automakers worldwide.”
Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO, Uber, said:
“We are very proud to continue to deepen our partnership with Wayve, with plans to deploy together in more than 10 markets around the world. Wayve’s powerful end-to-end approach is purpose-built for scale, safety, and effectiveness, and we’re excited to work with them across multiple OEMs and geographies, which we’ll share more about soon.”
Ivan Espinosa, President and CEO, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd, said:
“This investment deepens our partnership with Wayve and supports Nissan’s plans to advance autonomous driving through scalable end‑to‑end AI. By strengthening this collaboration, we are reinforcing our competitiveness in intelligent mobility and our focus on long‑term value creation.”
Antonio Filosa, CEO, Stellantis, said:
“Wayve’s embodied‑AI approach and end‑to‑end learning architecture represent an important innovation in autonomous driving technology. Their work aligns well with Stellantis’ platform‑driven strategy and our focus on scalable, safety‑first vehicle intelligence.
“We see strong potential for collaboration as we advance our autonomy roadmap, including our driverless AV Ready Platforms™, with the clear objective of delivering safer and more intuitive driving experiences for customers worldwide.”
Seth Winterroth, Partner at Eclipse, said:
“Wayve’s end-to-end embodied AI approach appeared contrarian when Eclipse first backed the company in 2019. Today, it’s clear this vision is the scalable path to deploying autonomy globally as we stand on the edge of a transportation shift that will transform how the world moves, works, and lives. This capital reinforces Wayve’s leadership and positions the company to build one of the most valuable businesses of the next generation.”
Kentaro Matsui, Managing Partner at SoftBank Global Advisers and Head of the New Business Office at SoftBank Group, said:
“Wayve is building a scalable, end-to-end embodied AI platform that we believe will help define the future of mobility. We’re proud to support their mission and look forward to deepening our partnership as Wayve accelerates global adoption of its autonomy platform.”
Suranga Chandratillake, General Partner at Balderton, said:
“We’ve been proud to support Wayve since the early days, backing Alex and his team as they pursued an ambitious – and at the time rather contrarian – vision for embodied AI. The technical achievements are extraordinary, but what’s more impressive is how this team has taken cutting-edge research out of the lab and deployed it in complex, real-world driving environments – turning breakthrough science into commercial reality. Born out of a tiny lab in Cambridge and now a global leader in its field, Wayve represents the very best of European innovation: world-class technology, global ambition and real-world deployment at scale.”
Avid Larizadeh-Duggan, Head of EMEA for Teachers’ Venture Growth, the late-stage venture investment platform of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, said:
“Wayve’s approach to embodied AI marks a true step forward in how driving intelligence is trained, scaled and deployed. In a space with only a handful of serious contenders, their technical edge, pace of execution and trusted relationships with leading ecosystem partners set them apart. Alex and his team are formidable and we’re proud to back them.”
UK Technology Secretary of State Liz Kendall said:
“Wayve is a powerful example of the strength, ambition and potential of Britain’s innovative firms. This fund raise demonstrates the international confidence in our brilliant AI sector and reaffirms Britain’s position as the leading scale-up ecosystem in Europe. We will continue to create the conditions for world-leading firms like Wayve to start, grow and scale, creating great jobs and opportunities for people in every corner of our country.”
UK Business Secretary of State Peter Kyle said:
“The growth of great British AI businesses like Wayve is a big vote of confidence in the UK and in the future of our auto industry that will help to boost jobs and growth across the sector. We’re proud to be backing this investment round, giving Wayve the firepower to scale up and thrive. I can’t wait to see more of their cars on the streets around the country and around the world in years to come.”
Heidi Alexander, Secretary of State for Transport, said:
“Wayve is pushing the boundaries of innovation right here in the UK, and this £1.5bn investment will cement the UK as a powerhouse for the next generation of transport.
“We’re backing innovators with smarter regulation that unlocks growth, and giving firms like Wayve the opportunity to trial their driverless technology on our roads later this year.”
Image courtesy of Wayve
