France-based driverless car technology producer Navya closed a €30m ($33m) funding round yesterday that featured transportation group Keolis and automotive supplier Valeo.
Group8, Robolution Capital, CapDecisif Management, through French government-backed Fonds Régional de Co-investissement de la Région Ile de France, and Gravitation also supplied capital to the round.
Founded in 2014, Navya engineers driverless, automated electric vehicles such as the Navya Arma, a shuttle bus capable of carrying up to 15 passengers at a time. The funding will help Navya roll out the Arma into the US, across Europe and into the Gulf region.
Additionally, Navya signed a strategic agreement with Valeo to integrate the corporate’s technology into the shuttle bus and optimise sensor data treatment. Navya has also entered a partnership with Keolis to better cope with driverless fleet management.
Finally, Qatar-based holding firm Group8 will assist Navya with an expansion across the Middle East and Africa through sales joint-venture and the creation of a local product assemby line.
In January 2016, Navya raised €4.1m from CapDecisif, Gravitation, angel investors and company employees. Christophe Sapet, president of Navya, and Robolution Capital previously injected an undisclosed sum in 2014.
Sapet said:‘‘To secure a sustainable growth in an increasingly competitive context, we have chosen a partnership strategy that allows us, on the one hand, to optimise costs with the offers of one of the largest automotive suppliers to stay competitive, and on the other hand to ensure most effectively the international deployment of our autonomous mobility solution, Navya Arma.
“Achieving faster critical volumes will reduce investments from cities and companies who wish to equip themselves with intelligent and autonomous mobility solutions and thus accelerate the growth of our company.”