US-based autonomous driving technology provider Kodiak Robotics has secured $125m in a series B round that included tyre producer Bridgestone and carmaker BMW, bringing its total funding to $165m.
The round also featured Lightspeed Venture Partners, Battery Ventures, SIP Global Partners, Muirwood Ventures, Harpoon Ventures, StepStone Group, Walleye Capital, Gopher Asset Management, Alita Capital Partners and unnamed others.
Founded in 2018, Kodiak Robotics is developing self-driving freight trucks and will use the series B proceeds to add at least 85 new people to its team over the next year and add at least 15 new trucks to up its fleet of autonomous vehicles to a minimum of 25.
The round’s corporate investment came from BMW’s strategic investment arm, BMW i Ventures, and Bridgestone in separate deals announced in June this year. Battery Ventures led its $40m series A round in 2018, investing alongside Lightspeed Venture Partners, CRV and Tusk Ventures.
Don Burnette, Kodiak’s founder and chief executive, said: “Our series B drives us into hyper-growth so we can double our team, our fleet, and continue to scale our business. We have engineered our industry-leading technology, the Kodiak Driver, in half the time and a fraction of the cost of our competitors.
“The supply chain challenges we have seen over the last 18 months only underscore the importance of autonomous trucking to the future of America’s economy. With the series B, we will further accelerate towards launching our commercial self-driving service with our partners in the coming years to help address these critical challenges.”
