British self-driving car company Wayve has raised $1.2bn (£950m), ticking its valuation up to $8.6bn and marking one of the largest capital raises for a UK AI startup.
The funding round was led by Eclipse, Balderton and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with new backing from investors like Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Baillie Gifford, the British Business Bank and Schroders Capital.
Tech giants Microsoft, Nvidia and Uber also participated, alongside carmakers Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Stellantis.
Uber has separately contributed additional milestone-based funding to support years worth of deployments of Wayve-powered robotaxis on its platform, beginning in London next year.
The fundraise comes as the capital prepares to become a litmus test for driverless taxis under the UK government’s new regulatory framework, where Wayve will compete against Alphabet-owned Waymo and Baidu’s Apollo Go in pilot schemes expected this Spring.
