London-based autonomous driving software group Wayve has been valued at $8.6bn after raising a $1.2bn (£888m) Series D investment round.
With its new valuation secured, Wayve takes its place among the most valuable AI companies in the UK, second only to voice generation company ElevenLabs, worth $11bn.
At various times Wayve has held the top spot, and while it is currently behind ElevenLabs in terms of post-money valuation, its massive rise positions it far above the vast majority of the British AI sector and unlike ElevenLabs is wholly based in the UK.
With its war chest now heavily stocked, the company is gearing up for a full transition from research lab to full commercial deployment of its end-to-end platform as self-driving cars become more integrated into real life.
“We are building for a total addressable market that spans every vehicle that moves,” said Alex Kendall, co-Founder and chief executive of Wayve.
“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.”
Wayve’s success has drawn kudos from the British government, which has not only been keen to champion the UK’s AI sector, but has also been increasingly supportive of integrating self-driving vehicles on British streets.
“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,” said Tech Secretary Liz Kendall.
“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.”
The Series D was led by Eclipse, Balderton and the SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
The latest funding round for the British AI company also featured investments from major names including Microsoft, NVIDIA and Uber, which has been working closely with the company, running trials fitting its software into Uber taxis in London.
“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,” said Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi.
“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.”
Uber and Wayve plan to deploy their autonomous taxis in the UK capital this year with a broader international rollout to follow.
Top names in the automotive sector also participated in the round, including Mercedes-Benz and Nissan. Other backers included Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Baillie Gifford, British Business Bank, Icehouse Ventures and Schroders Capital.