Nuro, a four-year-old autonomous vehicle company based in Mountain View, said Monday it raised $500 million in new funding for its efforts to create driverless delivery capabilities.
The Series C round of funding for the four-year-old startup follows a $940 million fundraising haul from SoftBank that came in early 2019. SoftBank also took part in the latest funding rounding round, which was led by T. Rowe Price and included new investors Fidelity Management & Research Company, LLC. and Baillie Gifford. Previous investor Greylock also participated.
According to a report in Reuters, Nuro’s valuation has doubled since the earlier funding and the company is now worth $5 billion.
Nuro is developing an all-electric, completely self-driving road vehicle that has no intention of carrying people. Instead, the vehicle — called R2 — is designed to deliver groceries, retail products and other goods from a store or distribution center to someone’s home or office.
“We are witnessing an unprecedented shift in consumer demand for safe and affordable local delivery services,” Jiajun Zhu, CEO and co-founder of Nuro, said in a statement (Zhu was a SVBJ 40 Under 40 honoree this year). “This funding, which brings us together with many of the world’s top investors, positions Nuro confidently toward a future where our world-class technology is adopted into people’s everyday lives.”
Nuro boasts of having the only federal exemption for an autonomous vehicle given by the Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Its vehicles are being tested in California, Texas and Arizona. Nuro has developed partnerships with a number of retailers, including Walmart, Kroger, CVS and Domino’s.
Source: www.bizjournals.com