Telecommunications and internet group SoftBank’s Vision Fund provided more than $940m in financing today for Nuro, the US-based developer of an autonomous delivery vehicle.
Founded in 2016, Nuro is working on a small four-wheeled driverless electric vehicle designed to be able to collect and transport consumer goods such as dinners, groceries or dry cleaning.
The vehicle has already been trialled in the city of Scottsdale, Arizona, and Nuro has also signed a delivery partnership agreement with grocery chain Kroger and licensed its technology to autonomous truck developer Ike.
The company’s co-founders, Dave Ferguson and Jiajun Zhu, were previously part of internet technology provider Google’s autonomous driving project, Waymo.
Nuro was valued at $2.7bn in the transaction according to Reuters. It plans to use the Vision Fund cash to expand into new cities, form more strategic partnerships and enhance its technology.
Ferguson said: “We have spent the last two and a half years building an amazing team, launching our first unmanned service, working with incredible partners and creating technology to fundamentally improve our daily lives.
“This partnership gives us the opportunity to take the next step in realising our vision for local commerce and the broad application of our technology.”
The investment boosted the company’s overall funding to more than $1bn and came after a $92m series A round co-led by venture capital firm Greylock and Gaorong Capital, the private equity firm formerly known as Banyan Capital, in January 2018.
Image courtesy of Nuro.
