US-based autonomous vehicle developer Nuro raised $600m in series D funding yesterday from investors including internet technology provider Google, grocery chain Kroger and telecommunications and internet group SoftBank’s Vision Fund 1.
Tiger Global Management led the round, which also featured automotive manufacturer Toyota’s Woven Capital fund, investment and financial services group Fidelity, Baillie Gifford, Gaorong Capital and funds and accounts advised by T Rowe Price.
Nuro has developed autonomous electric vehicles used to deliver products such as groceries or medication. It will allocate the cash to technology development, hiring and expanding the commercial deployment of its technology.
The series D round valued Nuro at $8.6bn, people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch, an increase from the $5bn valuation at which it received $500m in series C funding from Vision Fund 1, Fidelity, Baillie Gifford, Greylock Partners and funds and accounts advised by T Rowe Price a year ago.
Vision Fund 1 had paid $940m for a stake in the company sized at almost 35% in early 2019, a deal preceded by $92m in series A funding from Greylock and Gaorong Capital the previous year.
Kroger’s chief information officer, Yael Cosset, said: “Kroger launched its partnership with Nuro in 2018 to explore grocery delivery through autonomous vehicles.
“Since then, Kroger and Nuro completed thousands of deliveries to our customers – driving innovation that supports our expanding seamless ecosystem by creating consistent and rewarding customer experiences with scalable, sustainable and profitable solutions.”
