SoftBank · Microsoft · TechCrunch AI
Wayve publishes $85 million employee tender offer at $8.5 billion valuation
Compiled by KHAO Editorial — aggregated from 1 source. See llms.txt for citation guidance.
◌ Single Source
Wayve, a U.K.-based self-driving tech startup, is allowing its employees to sell a portion of their vested equity.
Key facts
- That valuation was set in February when the nine-year-old company raised a $1.2 billion Series D led by Eclipse, Balderton, and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and included participation from Ontario
- In pursuit of a “general-purpose” AI driver, one that could, in theory, work across countries, cars, and road conditions, the company has more than doubled its headcount to 1,200 employees
- Wayve is targeting robotaxi pilot launches in partnership with Uber later this year, while separately planning to integrate its AI software into Nissan’s next-generation driver-assist systems
- Wayve’s offering is part of a growing trend of AI startups
Summary
That valuation was set in February when the nine-year-old company raised a $1.2 billion Series D led by Eclipse, Balderton, and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and included participation from Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Baillie Gifford, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Uber. Other startups that have recently completed employee tender offers include Decagon, which builds AI agents that handle customer service for enterprises like Duolingo and Hertz; ElevenLabs, the AI voice-generation company behind much of the internet’s synthetic speech and dubbing tools; Linear, a popular project-management platform built for software teams; and Clay, a sales and marketing automation tool that helps companies research and reach prospects. (Clay has run two tenders in the last nine months alone.
In pursuit of a “general-purpose” AI driver, one that could, in theory, work across countries, cars, and road conditions, the company has more than doubled its headcount to 1,200 employees over the past year.