Waabi raises $1B in Series C and Uber partnership for robotaxi deployment
Waabi Innovation Inc. has raised $750M USD in Series C funding plus milestone-based future investment from Uber, totaling over $1B, to advance autonomous trucking and launch robotaxis on Uber's platform.
- $750M USD
- Over $1B
- 25,000 or more
- 2021
What Happened
Waabi Innovation Inc., a leader in Physical AI for autonomous vehicles, announced it has closed an oversubscribed $750M USD Series C round co-led by Khosla Ventures and G2 Venture Partners. Additionally, the company secured a milestone-based future investment from Uber as part of a new partnership to deploy robotaxis powered by the Waabi Driver exclusively on the Uber platform. The total funding exceeds $1B, making it the largest fundraise in Canadian history.
Founded in 2021, Waabi has developed a Physical AI Platform that combines an end-to-end AI model with a neural simulator, enabling a shared 'brain' across autonomous trucks and robotaxis. The company claims its approach allows for rapid commercialization and scaling, with the same AI model powering both vehicle types. Waabi plans to use the new capital to continue advancing its autonomous trucking business and to expand into robotaxis, leveraging its existing technology.
“Waabi’s Physical AI Platform has enabled us to hit an industry-leading pace in the development and commercialization of autonomous trucks over the past few years. Our current self-driving capabilities across highways and generalized surface streets have unlocked a new direct-to-customer model... and provides an unprecedented opportunity to quickly and seamlessly enter the robotaxi market.”
- Lead investors: Khosla Ventures and G2 Venture Partners
- Strategic investors: Uber, NVentures (NVIDIA), Volvo Group Venture Capital, Porsche Automobil Holding SE
- Financial investors: BlackRock, Radical Ventures, HarbourVest Partners, ADIA, Linse Capital, Incharge Capital, and others
- Canadian investors: BDC Capital’s Thrive Venture Fund, Export Development Canada, TELUS Global Ventures, BMO Global Asset Management
“Waabi is fundamentally changing the trajectory of autonomous transportation. Their simulation-first end-to-end AI is a powerful enabler, accelerating commercial adoption while dramatically reducing capital needs to scale.”
As part of its robotaxi expansion, Waabi has entered an exclusive partnership with Uber to deploy robotaxis powered by the Waabi Driver on Uber's platform. Uber will provide milestone-based capital to support development and deployment of 25,000 or more Waabi Driver-powered robotaxis over time. Waabi's CEO Raquel Urtasun expressed enthusiasm for the partnership, stating it will bring a safer, more efficient, and sustainable future.
$1BUSD
Largest fundraise in Canadian history, including $750M Series C and future milestone-based investment from Uber.
Previously from Waabi Innovation Inc.
Waabi has previously demonstrated key milestones in autonomous trucking, including achieving zero-shot generalization of its virtual driver across different truck platforms without new training data, and completing driverless missions on a closed course. These achievements laid the groundwork for the company's expansion into robotaxis and its recent funding success.
- Waabi achieves zero-shot generalization across vehicle platforms for autonomous trucks
- Waabi achieves driverless closed-course milestone, plans public road testing
Background drawn from MotorClaw's earlier coverage of Waabi Innovation Inc.'s official releases.
Why this matters
This is the largest fundraise in Canadian history, signaling massive investor confidence in Waabi's Physical AI platform. The funding accelerates commercial autonomous trucking and enables a rapid expansion into robotaxis, with Uber committing to deploy 25,000 or more Waabi-powered robotaxis. The partnership could reshape the ride-hailing market by introducing scalable self-driving technology.
Terms in This Story
- Physical AI
- Artificial intelligence that operates in the physical world, such as self-driving vehicles, combining perception, reasoning, and control.
- Series C
- A third major round of funding for a startup, typically to scale operations and prepare for an IPO or acquisition.
- Robotaxi
- An autonomous taxi service that operates without a human driver.
- Neural simulator
- A simulation environment powered by neural networks that can generate realistic virtual scenarios for training AI.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.