Self-driving tech company Nuro reels in Nvidia and Uber as strategic investors

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Autonomous vehicle technology company Nuro closed a $203 million Series E funding round this week to bring its post-money valuation to $6 billion. The funding round featured a select group of high-profile investors, including Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/UBER]), Nvidia (NVDA [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/NVDA]), Baillie Gifford, Icehouse Ventures, Kindred Ventures, Pledge Ventures, T. Rowe Price, Fidelity, Tiger Global Management, Greylock Partners, and XN LP. Of note, Uber (NYSE:UBER [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/UBER]) and Nvidia (NVDA [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/NVDA]) joined as strategic partners for the first time. SoftBank (OTCPK:SFTBY [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SFTBY]) is still a significant long-term backer of the California-based company that specialized in last-mile delivery.

Nuro vehicles deliver products in various urban and suburban environments, focusing on both dense metropolitan areas and mid-sized cities in the United States. Its autonomous vehicles currently operate driverlessly in Palo Alto and Mountain View, California, and Houston, Texas. Nuro has attracted attention through its partnerships with companies like Kroger (KR [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/KR]), Domino's Pizza (DPZ [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/DPZ]), CVS Health (CVS [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CVS]), and 7-Eleven. Recently, Nuro formed a key robotaxi alliance with Uber (NYSE:UBER [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/UBER]) and Lucid (LCID [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/LCID]).

Nuro was founded in September 2016 by Jiajun Zhu and Dave Ferguson, two former engineers from Google's (GOOG [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GOOG]) self-driving car project, which evolved into Waymo. The Mountain View, California-based company initially focused on developing small, electric, self-driving vehicles optimized for last-mile delivery. Nuro gained early attention in 2018 with the launch of its R1 prototype, followed by real-world pilots with major retailers. The company later became the first to receive a federal exemption from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for operating autonomous vehicles without conventional controls such as steering wheels or pedals.

Looking ahead, Nuro's long-term vision includes licensing its Level 4 autonomous driving system to OEMs, mobility providers, and even private vehicle manufacturers, aiming to scale its technology across delivery services, ride-hailing fleets, and future personal vehicles.

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