Nvidia is latest investor to back AV startup Nuro in $203M funding round

Nuro, a Silicon Valley startup known for its development of autonomous driving software tailored for delivery and ride-hailing services, has successfully completed a funding round totaling $203 million. This announcement came on Thursday, revealing that a mix of new and existing investors, including the prominent Baillie Gifford, contributed an additional $97 million to Nuro's Series E funding. Among the new backers are Icehouse Ventures, Kindred Ventures, Nvidia, and Pledge Ventures. Notably, Uber has also joined the round, following its recent commitment of a multi-hundred-million dollar investment in Nuro as part of a broader collaboration with electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid. Nvidia's investment is particularly significant as it follows years of technical partnership with Nuro, which utilizes Nvidia GPUs for extensive data processing and model training. The latest compute model from Nuro is built upon the Nvidia Drive AGX Thor platform. Earlier in April, Nuro had announced the first tranche of their Series E funding, which amounted to $106 million, with participation from advisory firms like T. Rowe Price Associates, Fidelity Management & Research, Tiger Global Management, Greylock Partners, and XN. To date, Nuro has raised a total of $2.3 billion, and its post-money valuation for the Series E round stands at $6 billion. This marks a significant decline from its $8.6 billion valuation in 2021 when the company raised $600 million in its Series D funding. The landscape for Nuro and the broader autonomous vehicle sector has evolved dramatically over the past few years. Like many startups in this emerging industry, Nuro faced challenges that prompted a reevaluation of its business model amid tighter capital conditions and a shift toward consolidation. The company underwent several rounds of layoffs in 2022 and 2023 before pivoting its strategy. In 2024, Nuro decided against operating its own fleet of low-speed delivery bots, instead opting to license its technology to automakers and other mobility providers, including ride-hailing and delivery services. This shift appears to be paying off, particularly highlighted by Uber's recent announcement of a robotaxi service utilizing all-electric Lucid Gravity SUVs, which will be equipped with Nuro's self-driving technology. Under this agreement, Uber has committed $300 million to Lucid and plans to purchase at least 20,000 Gravity SUVs over the next six years. Additionally, Uber's investment in Nuro is reported to exceed the amount put into Lucid. A portion of Uber's funding will contribute to Nuro's Series E round, with the remaining amount to be allocated based on the achievement of specific milestones. Nuro's co-founder and president, Dave Ferguson, expressed optimism about the company's growth trajectory, emphasizing their focus on forging new commercial partnerships to advance global autonomy.