British Business Bank backs $8.6bn Wayve funding round for UK robotaxi push

The UK government has secured what it describes as a “seat at the table” in the fast-moving global race to commercialize self-driving cars, after the British Business Bank backed a historic $1.5 billion fundraising round for British autonomous driving company Wayve.

The investment round, which was completed last week, valued the Cambridge-founded artificial intelligence company at $8.6 billion, the highest amount ever achieved by a UK AI startup. The round was led by SoftBank and backed by global heavyweights including Microsoft, NVIDIA, Uber, and car giants Nissan, Stellantis and Mercedes-Benz.

British Business Bank has invested £25 million in this round, one of its largest direct equity commitments to date, reflecting the government’s growing desire to support technology firms that thrive in the UK rather than see them migrate or list abroad.

Leandros Kalisperas, chief investment officer at the state-backed lender, said the participation was more than a return on investment.

“In the end it will be up to the company itself to decide the exit strategy,” he said. “But investment gives us a seat at the table.”

Founded in 2017 by Cambridge PhD researchers Alex Kendall and Amar Shah, Wayve is now one of Europe’s leading players in autonomous driving. Unlike some competitors that rely heavily on high-definition mapping and complex sensor stacks, Wayve focuses on end-to-end AI models that can learn to drive using large volumes of real-world data, an approach the company believes will allow rapid scaling across cities and regions.

Kalisperas recently got to experience the technology first hand during a show in London alongside Kendall. He described the underlying AI architecture as “excellent technology that we want to support,” adding that its potential applications could dramatically shape urban mobility in the UK and internationally.

The investment comes at an important time for the company. Wayve is changing from what Kalisperas describes as “technical risk to increase risk”, going beyond ensuring that its system works, to commercial use and global expansion.

Wayve plans to begin commercial robot trials in 2026, working alongside Uber, and aims for a wider international rollout after that. The company has also expressed ambitions to license its autonomous driving software directly to automakers, embedding its technology into consumer vehicles rather than operating the fleet itself.

The involvement of the British Business Bank reflects a broader shift in government industrial strategy. Since last year’s Labor spending review, ministers have committed to increasing the level and speed of the bank’s direct investment, making £6.6 billion of additional capital and increasing its total capacity to more than £25 billion.

The aim is clear: prevent promising UK technology firms from being forced to seek funding abroad or sell to overseas buyers prematurely. The UK has historically struggled to maintain ownership of its fastest-growing technology companies, with many listings in the US or acquisitions by global rivals.

By investing directly in late-stage equity like Wayve, the government hopes to encourage greater participation from domestic institutional investors, including pension funds.

Kalisperas said part of the strategy is to “make the ecosystem bigger, so the British involvement in British companies is bigger,” helping to bring in more capital.

That method did not work. Last month, Cressida Hogg, president of the Confederation of British Industry, questioned whether the country’s equity really attracted private equity or risk-averse markets.

Kalisperas rejected that explanation, saying that Wayve’s commercial fundamentals alone justified the investment.

“We would do this in almost every case because we are forced to account and return the trade to the taxpayers,” he said.

The funding cycle estimate underscores the growing strategic importance of autonomous mobility technology. Global automakers and technology companies are racing to secure leadership in software-defined vehicles, and AI is increasingly seen as a key competitive differentiator.

In the UK, Wayve represents one of the few homegrown companies working on the frontier of AI-driven transport. Backed by some of the world’s biggest investors and industrial partners, its progress will now serve as a test of whether Britain can maintain and retain a globally competitive technology champion.