Nuro Secures $106M in Funding, Pivots to Licensing Autonomous Driving Technology

Nuro's $106M raise backs its shift from delivery robots to licensing autonomy tech | TechCrunch

After months of hearty marketing efforts and large-scale technology demos across the U.S., Nuro has secured $106 million in fresh funding to help scale its autonomous driving technology and advance commercial partnerships. The Series E round brings Nuro's total funding raised to $2.2 billion and its valuation to $6 billion. That's a drop from the $8.6 billion post-money valuation Nuro secured after its $600 million Series D in 2021, but most startup valuations have come down from the highs seen during the era of easy money. Usually, a down round can be cause for concern, as it might reflect diminished investor confidence among slower-than-expected progress. That said, it's a tough funding environment out there. It's also possible that in Nuro's case, the company may need less capital as it pursues a recent business pivot that now focuses on licensing its self-driving technology to automotive OEMs, commercial delivery fleets, and ride-hail companies. TechCrunch reported on Nuro's shift in strategy in the fall of last year. Nuro's previous go-to-market plan revolved around building and operating cute on-road delivery robots that could carry only goods, not passengers, for partners like Domino's. But building vehicles is expensive work, and Nuro was burning cash fast. After several rounds of layoffs and putting its manufacturing plans on hold, Nuro decided to focus instead on beefing out its self-driving technology, which it had been continuously testing in California and Texas. In September 2024, Dave Ferguson, Nuro's co-founder and president, told TechCrunch the company would rely on advancements in AI to accelerate its autonomy progress, which would extend its runway from 1.5 years to 3.5 years. This new round likely extends that runway further. TechCrunch has reached out to Nuro for more information. Despite the down round, it's a good sign for Nuro that its backers are mostly institutional investors - like T. Rowe Price Associates, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Tiger Global Management, Greylock Partners, and XN LP - as well as strategic partners. "We're excited to see strong investor enthusiasm for our Series E," said Jiajun Zhu, co-founder and CEO of Nuro, in a statement. "Our technology, years of experience with driver-out Level 4 deployments, and focus on licensing uniquely position us to help automakers, mobility platforms, and commercial fleets accelerate their autonomy roadmaps." While Nuro still isn't sharing which strategic investors have joined the round, the company has existing relationships with Uber and Toyota through its investor Woven Capital, the venture arm of Toyota. Nuro's new business model puts it in direct competition with startups like U.K.-based Wayve, which also hopes to see its technology powering everything from personal autonomous vehicles to robotaxi fleets.

Nuro valued at $6 billion in latest funding round

April 9 (Reuters) - Autonomous driving technology startup Nuro said on Wednesday it was valued at $6 billion after raising $106 million in its latest funding round. The funding -- backed by T Rowe Price Associates, Fidelity Management & Research, Tiger Global, Greylock Partners and XN -- comes more than three years after its last round, where Nuro raised $600 million. The company will use the funds to scale its artificial-intelligence technology and advance commercial partnerships, it said. Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics:Autos & TransportationADAS, AV & SafetySoftware-Defined VehicleSustainable & EV Supply Chain

Nuro Raises $106 Million to Scale Autonomous Vehicle Technology Platform | PYMNTS.com

Autonomous vehicle company Nuro said Wednesday (April 9) that it has raised $106 million so far in an ongoing Series E funding round that values the company at $6 billion. The round brings the company's total funding to date to $2.2 billion, and it expects to add more Series E participants in the coming weeks, Nuro said in a Wednesday press release. Nuro will use the new funding to scale its technology platform and advance its commercial partnerships, according to the release. The company has a licensing-driven business model and offers its "vehicle-agnostic, cost-effective technology" to automotive manufacturers, suppliers and mobility companies that can integrate it into robotaxis, goods-delivery vehicles and personal vehicles, the release said. "We're excited to see strong investor enthusiasm for our Series E," Nuro Co-founder and CEO Jiajun Zhu said in the release. "Our technology, years of experience with driver-out Level 4 deployments, and focus on licensing uniquely position us to help automakers, mobility platforms and commercial fleets accelerate their autonomy roadmaps." Nuro said in November that it expanded its deployment of autonomous vehicles in two cities in California -- Mountain View and Palo Alto -- and in Houston, Texas. The company said it was ready to provide its autonomy platform to automotive OEMs and mobility companies. "Our latest driverless deployment demonstrates the maturity and capability of our AI platform, and we're excited for potential partners to capitalize on the performance, safety and sophistication of the Nuro Driver to build their own incredible autonomy products," Zhu said in a Nov. 19 press release. Nuro announced the expansion of its business model to include licensing in September, saying that its partnering with automotive OEMs and mobility platforms would accelerate the adoption of autonomous vehicles. The company said its licensing model offers a "commercially independent, road-proven platform" that automotive OEMs and mobility platforms can use to speed up their development and deployment of autonomous vehicles. "We believe Nuro is positioned to be a major contributor to this autonomous future where people and goods mobility are free-flowing, representing a significant increase in the quality of life for everyone," Zhu said in a Sept. 11 press release.

Nuro secures $6 billion valuation in latest funding round

(Reuters) -Autonomous driving technology startup Nuro said on Wednesday it fetched a valuation of $6 billion after raising $106 million in its latest funding round, as investors bet on what is often touted as the future of mobility. The funding -- backed by T Rowe Price Associates, Fidelity Management and Research, Tiger Global, Greylock Partners and XN -- comes more than three years after Nuro's last round that valued it at $8.6 billion at the height of venture-capital frenzy. Valuations sobered up in the following years, and the company conducted two rounds of layoffs as an impending U.S. recession and the energy crisis in 2022 forced it to cut costs. Since then, the self-driving industry, which boasts of some high-profile champions such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has shifted from bold promises to cautious progress as startups push ahead to commercialize the technology. Nuro's funding underscores that despite subdued conditions elsewhere, investor appetite for hot sectors persists. U.S. President Donald Trump also wants to ease deployment barriers for self-driving vehicles. Musk had said in January Tesla would roll out "autonomous ride-hailing for money" in Austin by June, while Alphabet unit Waymo rolled out its robotaxi services exclusively on Uber's platform in the city last month. Nuro, which combines self-driving AI and hardware into its Nuro Driver platform, expanded its business model in September by offering automakers and mobility licenses for its autonomous vehicle technology. The Mountain View, California-based company signed a 10-year partnership with Uber Eats in 2022 to test food delivery via unmanned vehicles in some U.S. locations. Founded by former lead engineers from Google's self-driving car project, now Waymo, Nuro had previously partnered with U.S. companies such as Kroger, Walmart, Domino's Pizza and Chipotle Mexican Grill. Nuro said it would use the funds from the latest round to scale its AI technology and advance commercial partnerships. (Reporting by Ateev Bhandari and Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)