UK-based autonomous driving developer Five picked up $41m yesterday in a series B round that featured insurance group Direct Line and Sistema VC, a corporate venturing subsidiary of conglomerate Sistema.
Trustbridge Partners, Lakestar, Amadeus Capital Partners, Kindred Capital and Notion Capital also took part in the round, which lifted the company’s overall funding to more than $78m since it was founded in 2015.
Five is working on autonomous driving technology that will be capable of handling mixed-use urban roads. It is also involved in Streetwise, a UK government-backed scheme also supported by Direct Line that involves testing self-driving cars in London.
The series B capital will go to the commercialisation of Five’s cloud-based development platform and parts of its online vehicle software. Gus Park, managing director of motor insurance at Direct Line, has joined the company’s board of directors.
Park said: “Autonomous and assisted driving technology is going to play a huge role in the future of cars. We have worked closely with Five on the Streetwise project, and we share a common interest in solving the formidable challenges that will need to be addressed in bringing safe self-driving to market.
“Insurers will need to build the capability to measure and underwrite new types of risk. We will be collaborating with Five’s world-class team of scientists, mathematicians and engineers to gain the insight needed to build safe, insurable solutions and bring the motoring revolution ever closer.”
Lakestar led Five’s $35m series A round in 2017, with participation from Amadeus Capital, Notion Capital and Kindred Capital. Amadeus had already led a $2.7m seed round for the company in 2016 that included the latter two, back when Kindred was still known as Spring Partners.
Photo courtesy of Five AI Ltd.
