💰 Over $1 billion investment in an AI startup

British AI startup Wayve has raised $1.05 billion, marking the largest known investment round in an AI company in the UK and Europe.

💲 Japanese SoftBank is the lead investor in the round, which also includes Microsoft and Nvidia. Wayve has previously received investments from Yann LeCun.

Who is Wayve?

🏎 Alex Kendall and Amar Shah, both Cambridge grads, founded the startup in 2017. They started in a leased house where they lived and worked before assembling their test vehicle in a garage. The company specializes in the development of AI systems for self-driving vehicles.

Wayve does not disclose its valuation. The funds will be used to develop a fully commercial product. The startup is negotiating with major automakers to sell its vehicle software.

🔝 The secret of success

🔠 AI. While most competitors relied on devices such as cameras, radars, and lidar sensors, Wayve focused primarily on AI. They invented Embodied AI technology, "GPT for driving." Embodied AI learns from examples in its environment. In 2022, they developed a machine learning model for controlling passenger automobiles and vans, followed by the generative AI model GAIA1 in 2023, which creates realistic driving video scenes.

🔠 Successful prototype development. In six months, Wayve created the prototype, the electric SUV Jaguar I-PACE. It was the world's first successful test of an AI-driven car that drove on an unfamiliar route using deep learning.

🔠 Bill Gates. Wayve caught Bill Gates' attention during a test drive in London, and the company has collaborated with Microsoft on AI development.

🔠 Ocado. Since 2021, Wayve has been training its model on cars from the British grocery delivery company Ocado.

Sources: BBC, The Guardian, TechCrunch

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