The funding round could value the autonomous driving start-up at more than $8bn.
UK’s autonomous driving start-up Wayve is discussing raising up to $2bn in a new funding round with SoftBank and Microsoft, reports the Financial Times.
The start-up has gained significant momentum in recent years thanks to the unprecedented scale of the AI boom.
Last year, it raised more than $1bn in a Series C round backed by Nvidia and Microsoft – a round touted as the biggest investment ever made in a UK-based AI company by former prime minister Rishi Sunak.
Ride sharing platform Uber made a follow-up investment into Wayve following the Series C round.
The latest deal could see a comeback from existing investors into Wayve, which plans to raise between $1bn to $2bn, sources tell the financial publication. The raise is set to value the start-up at more than $8bn.
The start-up has raised around $1.3bn in the three funding rounds it has run since being found in 2017. Estimates suggest that it is currently valued at more than $5.8bn (£4.43bn).
Existing investor Nvidia already agreed to back Wayve with $500m earlier this September. The funding came as part of the AI giant’s massive £2bn investment to boost the UK’s AI ecosystem.
CEO Jensen Huang also announced plans to invest in Revolut and AI biotech companies such as Basecamp Research and Latent Labs, which emerged from stealth earlier this year.
“There has never been a better time to invest in the UK – AI is unlocking new science and sparking entirely new industries,” Huang said at the time.
Meanwhile Uber joined forces with Wayve to launch a public road trial for fully autonomous vehicles in London. The trials are expected to begin in spring 2026.
The pilot will combine Wayve’s AI platform with Uber’s network of vehicles, making the UK Uber’s largest market to launch a self-driving pilot programme.
Wayve’s claims that its AI-led autonomous vehicle approach, known as AV2.0, “learns from experience like a human driver”, enabling it to adapt to new roads and layouts.
The programme is yet to get approval from the UK government and Transport for London. However, experts say that UK’s regulations around liability for autonomous vehicles need to be tightened, while autonomous driving start-ups need their own regulatory framework.