Oxbotica, which provides autonomous vehicle software, has raised US$140 million in a Series C investment to deploy its operating system for Universal Autonomy in multiple commercial and industrial domains around the world. The Series C funding accommodates growing demand from new and current shareholders, with additional investors expected to sign on before the funding round closes in a few months. The UK company has raised approximately US$225 million to date.
The investment round includes financial and strategic partners from North America, EMEA and APAC, including new investors such as Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance and ENEOS Innovation Partners. Current Oxbotica shareholders who are re-investing include bp ventures, BGF, Halma, Hostplus, Kiko Ventures (IP Group), Ocado Group, Tencent, Venture Science and ZF, amongst other global companies. Oxbotica has raised approximately US$225 million to date.
The funding will drive Oxbotica’s geographical expansion in North America, EMEA and APAC, and accelerate the deployment of its groundbreaking autonomy operating system in domains where there is both urgent need and potential to scale, such as agriculture, airports, energy, goods delivery, mining and shared passenger transportation.
The latest commitments signal continuing investor confidence in Oxbotica’s vision for Universal Autonomy – the ability of any vehicle, of any size, in any place to operate autonomously, safely and sustainably – and its proven record of breakthrough innovations which represent vital advances in commercializing AV technology. These include Europe’s first zero-occupancy trial on a publicly accessible road in May 2022, metaverse-based testing and collaborative alliances with the insurance sector, amongst others.
“This landmark investment from world-class investors is a tremendous validation of our strategy to apply self-driving technology where there is persistent and urgent demand – in supply chains, industrial sectors and in decongesting our cities,” said Gavin Jackson, CEO of Oxbotica.
“We share a common purpose with our investors as well as our growing number of customers and partners to make the Earth move more safely, more sustainably and more efficiently. We’re invigorated by their confidence and are moving quickly to accelerate the benefits of autonomy for everyone.”
Paul Newman, CTO and a founder of Oxbotica, added: “Oxbotica was founded eight years ago on the vision of Universal Autonomy – providing safe and sustainable autonomy that is independent of workplace and vehicle type. With the greatest engineering talent and experience, using the best of AI, robotics and the metaverse, we are delivering on that promise to create value for our customers, our communities and our planet. We welcome our new investors who share our bold vision to redefine the role of the human in the operation of vehicles.”
Oxbotica’s customers and partners include Ocado Group, with which the company is collaborating on autonomous goods delivery to fulfill customer orders. The software-defined vehicle from partner Applied EV, driven by Oxbotica, has already operated with no onboard driver on a publicly accessible road in Oxford, marking a key milestone in commercializing its AV technology.
In partnership with Applied EV, bp, NEVS and ZF, autonomous passenger shuttles and industry-specific vehicles driven by Oxbotica will be launched in 2024. Meanwhile, together with Wenco International Mining Systems, Oxbotica is bringing the benefits of open autonomy to mining to improve safety and sustainability combined with lower operational costs.
Foundational support for Oxbotica’s early innovations was provided by the UK government through the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles.