British Business Bank backs Wayve with £25m

The British Business Bank has invested £25 million in Wayve, the UK-based autonomous driving company, as part of a landmark $1.2 billion Series D funding round that underscores growing global confidence in British deeptech.

The round was led by Eclipse, Balderton and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with new investment from Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Baillie Gifford, Icehouse Ventures, Schroders Capital and other institutional backers. Technology giants Microsoft, NVIDIA and Uber also participated, alongside global automotive manufacturers Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Stellantis, signalling strong industry support for Wayve’s approach to embodied artificial intelligence as a foundational software layer for autonomy at scale.

Founded in 2017, Wayve develops AI foundation models for autonomous driving, equipping vehicles with what it describes as a “robot brain” capable of learning from and interacting with real-world environments. The company has since industrialised its research into a production-ready autonomy platform designed to span advanced driver assistance through to higher levels of self-driving capability, from L2+ “hands-off” to L3/L4 “eyes-off” driving across different vehicles, brands and markets.

The British Business Bank’s investment is one of its largest direct equity stakes to date and follows an expansion of the Bank’s financial capacity to £25.6 billion, alongside reforms to enable larger investments in high-growth scale-ups. The Bank first gained exposure to Wayve through its backing of Balderton’s Fund VI in 2019 and has since built a co-investment portfolio of 45 companies, becoming the UK’s most active late-stage investor in deeptech and life sciences.

Leandros Kalisperas, Chief Investment Officer at the British Business Bank, said the deal reflects a push to provide stronger domestic backing for the UK’s most promising technology firms.

“We are making larger investments in high-growth companies like Wayve to support the UK’s most promising businesses to start, scale and stay in the UK,” he said, adding that too often UK institutional capital is absent from later-stage funding rounds.

Business Secretary Peter Kyle described the investment as “a big vote of confidence in the growth potential of Wayve”, saying the funding would help secure jobs, boost growth and support the UK economy as the company expands internationally.

George Mills, Investment Director at the British Business Bank, said Wayve had emerged as a global leader in the race towards self-driving vehicles, with its AI licensing model positioning it to compete with international rivals.

“It’s difficult to imagine a future without self-driving cars,” he said. “This new funding round will support Wayve in developing its technology, allowing it to go toe-to-toe with others in the autonomous driving market.”

Wayve co-founder and chief executive Alex Kendall said the company’s latest raise brings total funding to $1.5 billion and marks a shift from research leadership to large-scale commercial deployment.

“Autonomy will not scale through city-by-city robotaxi deployments alone,” he said. “It will scale through platforms that automakers can trust, deploy globally and improve continuously.”

The fresh capital will accelerate Wayve’s transition to market. From 2026, consumers are expected to experience Wayve-powered robotaxis through commercial trials with Uber. From 2027, passenger vehicles equipped with Wayve’s AI Driver are expected to go on sale, starting with L2+ “hands-off” capability that allows vehicles to steer, navigate and respond to traffic under driver supervision.