Nuro secures 6 billion-dollar valuation in latest funding round
Technology
Nuro secures 6 billion-dollar valuation in latest funding round
(Reuters) - Autonomous driving technology startup Nuro said on Wednesday it fetched a valuation of $6 billion after raising $106 million in its latest funding round, as investors bet on what is often touted as the future of mobility.
The funding — backed by T Rowe Price Associates, Fidelity Management and Research, Tiger Global, Greylock Partners and XN — comes more than three years after Nuro's last round that valued it at $8.6 billion at the height of the venture capital frenzy.
Valuations sobered up in the following years, and the company conducted two rounds of layoffs as an impending U.S. recession and the energy crisis in 2022 forced it to cut costs.
Since then, the self-driving industry, which boasts of some high-profile champions such as Tesla (TSLA.O), CEO Elon Musk, has shifted from bold promises to cautious progress as startups push ahead to commercialize the technology.
Nuro's funding underscores that despite subdued conditions elsewhere, investor appetite for hot sectors persists. U.S. President Donald Trump also wants to ease deployment barriers for self-driving vehicles.
Musk had said in January Tesla would roll out "autonomous ride-hailing for money" in Austin by June, while Alphabet unit Waymo rolled out its robotaxi services exclusively on Uber's platform in the city last month.
Nuro, which combines self-driving AI and hardware into its Nuro Driver platform, expanded its business model in September by offering automakers and mobility licenses for its autonomous vehicle technology.
The Mountain View, California-based company signed a 10-year partnership with Uber Eats in 2022 to test food delivery via unmanned vehicles in some U.S. locations.
Nuro said it would use the funds from the latest round to scale its AI technology and advance commercial partnerships.
