Nuro Receives $203M Funding with Nvidia as Latest Investor

Nvidia Invests in Nuro's Autonomous Vehicle Technology

Nvidia has joined a new cohort of investors supporting Nuro, a company specializing in self-driving systems designed for delivery and ride-sharing applications. This latest funding round has successfully secured $203 million in investment.

Recent Funding Details

The Silicon Valley-based startup revealed on Thursday that additional funding of $97 million has been added to its Series E round, with participation from existing investor Baillie Gifford. Alongside them, new investors include Icehouse Ventures, Kindred Ventures, Nvidia, and Pledge Ventures.

Uber, which recently announced a substantial investment in Nuro as part of a larger agreement with electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid, also contributed to this funding round.

Nvidia's Ongoing Collaboration with Nuro

This investment by Nvidia builds upon a pre-existing technical relationship with Nuro spanning several years. Nuro currently utilizes Nvidia GPUs for extensive data processing and the training of its AI models.

Furthermore, Nuro’s most recent computing model is constructed utilizing the Nvidia Drive AGX Thor platform.

Series E Funding and Valuation

The initial $106 million portion of the Series E funding was announced in April. Participants in that initial tranche included investment accounts managed by T. Rowe Price Associates, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Tiger Global Management, Greylock Partners, and XN.

To date, Nuro has accumulated $2.3 billion in funding. The company’s post-money valuation following this Series E round is $6 billion.

This represents a 30% decrease from the $8.6 billion valuation achieved in 2021 during its Series D funding round, which raised $600 million.

Industry Shifts and Nuro's Strategic Pivot

Significant changes have occurred within the autonomous vehicle sector, and for Nuro specifically, over the past four years. Like many startups in the developing autonomous vehicle technology space, Nuro was compelled to reassess its business model following shifts in economic conditions.

These conditions led to a reduction in available capital and a period of industry consolidation.

Nuro underwent multiple rounds of workforce reductions in both 2022 and 2023 before revising its core business strategy.

Focus on Technology Licensing

In 2024, Nuro abandoned its plans to directly own and operate a fleet of low-speed delivery robots. Instead, the company shifted its focus to licensing its autonomous technology to automotive manufacturers and mobility service providers, including ride-hailing and delivery companies.

This strategic change appears to be yielding positive results, as demonstrated by Uber’s announcement in July regarding the launch of a robotaxi service.

This service will utilize all-electric Lucid Gravity SUVs equipped with Nuro’s self-driving technology.

Uber's Investment and Partnership

As part of this agreement, Uber invested $300 million in Lucid and committed to purchasing “at least” 20,000 Gravity SUVs over the next six years.

Uber also pledged an undisclosed “multi-hundred-million dollar” investment in Nuro. Sources indicate this investment exceeds Uber’s investment in Lucid.

A portion of Uber’s investment has been allocated to the Series E funding round, with the remainder to be distributed to Nuro as specific milestones are achieved.

Future Outlook

Dave Ferguson, co-founder and president of Nuro, stated that the company is now well-positioned for its next phase of growth thanks to this new capital.

With a workforce of approximately 700 employees, Nuro will concentrate on establishing new commercial partnerships to facilitate the widespread deployment of autonomous technology globally.

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