{"id":444474,"date":"2026-02-25T08:43:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T08:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/444474\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T08:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T08:43:08","slug":"uk-ai-start-up-wayve-raises-1-2bn-from-carmakers-and-big-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/444474\/","title":{"rendered":"UK AI start-up Wayve raises $1.2bn from carmakers and Big Tech"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/p>\n

UK self-driving start-up Wayve has raised $1.2bn in new funding from investors including automakers Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis and Nissan, as it gears up to launch its first robotaxi service in London later this year. <\/p>\n

The deal values London-based Wayve at $8.6bn, including the new funds, ranking it among the UK\u2019s most valuable AI start-ups. <\/p>\n

The round marks the first time that Wayve<\/a>, founded in 2017, has raised capital from the automotive industry, after signing its first commercial partnership with Nissan last year. <\/p>\n

The start-up said on Wednesday that Mercedes-Benz\u00a0and Stellantis are exploring using Wayve\u2019s autonomous driving\u00a0systems, which can be used for both\u00a0robotaxis and privately owned vehicles.<\/p>\n

Existing investors Eclipse, Balderton and SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led Wayve\u2019s latest round, alongside US tech groups Nvidia, Microsoft and Uber, bringing its total capital raised to $2.5bn. <\/p>\n

\u201cWayve is moving from an R&D stage to a commercialisation phase,\u201d Alex Kendall, Wayve\u2019s co-founder and chief executive, told the FT. <\/p>\n

\"AlexAlex Kendall, co-founder and chief executive, said: \u2018Wayve is moving from an R&D stage to a commercialisation phase\u2019 \u00a9 Charlie Bibby\/FT<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got the partnerships, the strategic support but also the capital we need to license software that\u2019s going to be in vehicles that will be owned and operated for a decade plus. This continues to give us escape velocity to build this as an independent company.\u201d <\/p>\n

The financing comes as Wayve prepares for its first head-to-head battle with Alphabet-owned Waymo, the self-driving pioneer that raised $16bn<\/a> at a $126bn valuation earlier this month. Both companies, alongside China\u2019s Baidu, are expected to participate in the UK\u2019s first robotaxi trials <\/a>in London later this year. <\/p>\n

Uber plans to invest in a fleet of robotaxis powered by Wayve\u2019s software that will be deployed in 10 cities in multiple countries, including London. Its expanded alliance could unlock as much as $300mn in further investment into Wayve over the coming years, as Uber tries<\/a> to ensure robotaxis become part of its service rather than a competitive threat. <\/p>\n

Satya Nadella, Microsoft\u2019s chief executive, said Wayve \u2014 which builds its AI systems using Nvidia chips running on Microsoft\u2019s Azure cloud computing service \u2014 was \u201cpushing the frontier of embodied AI\u201d. <\/p>\n

Wayve did not disclose how much each of its investors was contributing to the new round, but said last September that Nvidia was evaluating a $500mn strategic investment. Nvidia declined to comment. <\/p>\n

In contrast to its much larger rivals Tesla and Waymo, which build their autonomous driving systems for specific vehicles and sensor equipment, Kendall argues that Wayve\u2019s technology is \u201cgeneralisable\u201d, working in a wide range of different vehicles and urban environments. <\/p>\n

He added that its software worked with automakers using non-Nvidia chips in their vehicles too, which helped Wayve to avoid being \u201cpigeonholed to one manufacturer, one silicon, one use case or one mobility network\u201d. <\/p>\n

Recommended<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Kendall predicted that Wayve\u2019s \u201chigh-margin software model\u201d could ultimately be a bigger business than companies like Tesla or Waymo that were \u201cone manufacturer selling your own cars or running your own service with the high capex costs related to that\u201d. <\/p>\n

The first private vehicles using Wayve\u2019s \u201cAI driver\u201d will go on sale next year, initially offering a more limited \u201chands-off\u201d autonomous system that requires driver supervision. The company was talking to \u201cevery Western car maker who is not Tesla\u201d, added Kendall. <\/p>\n

Wayve\u2019s fundraising comes as the car industry is struggling with both the financial and technological pressures to develop autonomous driving capabilities alongside deep-pocketed tech giants. <\/p>\n

Analysts say one of the industry\u2019s biggest fears is ending up building commodity hardware at thin margins for robotaxi operators.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kendall said Wayve had taken a different approach of \u201ccollaboration\u201d that he claimed would allay some of those concerns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The start-up\u2019s AI software can be adapted to existing hardware and software systems developed by carmakers or their suppliers, allowing them to choose their own sensors, design the \u201clook and feel\u201d of the vehicle and personalise the driving behaviour as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pressure is on the automotive industry right now and the ability to kill two birds with one stone \u2014 to invest with one autonomy integration that can service both consumer vehicles and robotaxis \u2014 is very attractive,\u201d said Kendall. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-444474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-technology","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}