Autonomous Mobility Startup Raises $250M at $2.1B Valuation to Scale Its Global Infrastructure
Black-owned autonomous mobility startup Moove has raised a $250 million Series C funding round led by Mubadala Investment Company and co-led by Woven Capital, Toyota’s Growth Fund, and Ion Pacific. The new capital will allow the company to expand Moove’s autonomous fleet ownership and a first-of-its-kind robotic depot infrastructure, which it calls Nests.
“Every major technology revolution becomes an infrastructure race. The internet required data centres. AI required compute,” Ladi Delano, Co-Founder, Co-CEO and Advisory Board Chairman of Moove said in a press release.
“Autonomy requires fleets, charging, maintenance, data systems and 24/7 operations in every city – and that is what Moove is building. In our view, as autonomy scales, infrastructure ownership and operations will define the category leaders. We are building to be one of them.”
About Moove
Moove, which launched in 2020 by Ladi Delano and Jide Odunsi, started as a vehicle financing startup and later expanded into ride-hailing and deliveries in Africa. Delano told TechCrunch that financing and human-driven ride-hailing fleets inspired its current operation. In 2023, it expanded into autonomous vehicles.
“Let’s create a product where we own, operate, and orchestrate autonomous vehicles, and let’s go and find partners to do it with — and that’s essentially what we did,” Delano said.
The United Arab Emirates-based business is currently the fleet operator for Waymo in Phoenix, Miami, and Las Vegas, and plans to expand into London. Whilst it doesn’t own the Waymo vehicles, it hopes to in the future.
The new capital
The $250 million Series C funding round included participation from BlueCrest Capital Management, Sona Asset Management, The Raptor Group, BlackRock, MUFG, Franklin Templeton, Uber, Left Lane, Silverbacks Holdings, Square Associates, The Latest Ventures, and the Ontario Power Generation Pension Plan.
The funding will help the company scale its autonomous vehicle fleet management business and expand its workforce by around 350 people.
Image: Moove
