Dive Brief:
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Looking to expand its business, Nuro, an autonomous delivery company, has received an undisclosed amount of additional funding from Woven Capital, Chipotle and other new investors as part of its Series C funding round, the company announced on Thursday.
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This was the first investment by Woven Capital, a new growth stage fund from Toyota subsidiary Woven Planet, the company said. New investors from Nuro's initial Series C fundraising, including Fidelity Management & Research Company and Baillie Gifford, joined existing investors SoftBank Vision Fund 1 and Greylock for an expansion of the company's $500 million Series C funding round.
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Nuro said it will use the funds to continue developing its autonomous technology, hire more employees and grow its delivery service.
Dive Insight:
Nuro has continued to raise capital and gain approval from regulators to move forward with its autonomous vehicle deliveries.
Last November, the startup netted $500 million in Series C funding from initial investors SoftBank Vision Fund 1, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Management & Research and Greylock. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) temporarily exempted the startup from certain federal requirements for low-speed vehicles in February 2020. And at the end of last year, Nuro obtained a permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to use its autonomous vehicles on public streets.
As Nuro secures multi-million dollar backing, established retailers are experimenting with autonomous deliveries as well, either with Nuro or by other means. Over the past couple of years, Walmart has launched autonomous deliveries in Houston with Nuro; Bentonville, Arkansas, with Gatik; and Scottsdale, Arizona, with Cruise. CVS also partnered with Nuro to pilot prescription deliveries in Houston.
For Nuro, the new funding signals that the investors believe in the company's vision for autonomous delivery, the company said in its announcement.
"The support of these financial and strategic investors from multiple continents will be a huge boost to Nuro as we commercialize and scale our local delivery product," Dave Ferguson, Nuro co-founder and president, said in a statement.
