Oxbotica, a British startup that develops software to power autonomous vehicles, yesterday shared the news it has closed a Series C round of $140 million. The company is going to use that money to continue building its services for existing clients and to drum up new business. According to TechCrunch, the big size of the round is a signal of how AI startups especially continue to fare well at the moment. It also shows the kinds of companies that are working with, and looking to back, startups breaking new ground in the space of autonomous driving.
This latest funding is coming from a mix of investors that include Japan’s Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Co., Ltd., ENEOS Innovation Partners, the corporate VC of the mining conglomerate Eneos, BGF, safety equipment group Halma, hospitality and recreation investor Hostplus, climate fund Kiko Ventures (IP Group), the online shopping company Ocado Group, internet giant Tencent, Venture Science and automotive component maker ZF.
The funding round brings the total raised by Oxbotica to $225 million. The startup is not disclosing its valuation, but Paul Newman, the company’s CTO and co-founder, noted that the fact that it was one of the autonomous startups that’s raising big right now, and the current appetite for artificial intelligence startups that are building applications around their innovations, have contributed to a healthy number.
