Waabi announced it has closed an oversubscribed $750 million Series C round and lined up additional milestone-based capital from Uber tied to a new robotaxi partnership, bringing total “new funding” support to $1 billion. The Canadian autonomous-vehicle company, founded in 2021 by Raquel Urtasun, said the financing will accelerate development of its “Physical AI Platform,” deepen commercial progress in autonomous trucking, and fund an expansion into robotaxis deployed exclusively on Uber’s platform.
The Series C was co-led by Khosla Ventures and G2 Venture Partners, with Waabi describing the round as the largest fundraising in Canadian history. Waabi said the raise drew a mix of strategic and financial backers spanning AI infrastructure, transportation, and institutional capital. Strategic participants named by the company include Uber, NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture capital arm), Volvo Group Venture Capital, and Porsche Automobil Holding SE, alongside financial investors including funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Radical Ventures, HarbourVest Partners, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (“ADIA”), Linse Capital, Incharge Capital, and others. Waabi also cited participation from Canadian investors, including BDC Capital’s Thrive Venture Fund, Export Development Canada (EDC), TELUS Global Ventures, BMO Global Asset Management, and others.
Waabi’s pitch centers on a simulation-first autonomy stack it says can generalize across different vehicle “form factors,” geographies, and driving conditions. The company said its platform combines a “verifiable end-to-end AI model capable of reasoning” with a neural simulation system, enabling a shared “brain” that can power both autonomous trucks and robotaxis. Waabi framed this as a core differentiator: progress in one vehicle class can translate into improvements for the other, accelerating product iteration and deployment while supporting scale.
On the commercial front, Waabi positioned autonomous trucking as the foundation for its next phase. The company said its current self-driving capabilities across highways and generalized surface streets have enabled a direct-to-customer model designed to address industry pain points. With the new funding, Waabi plans to extend that roadmap into ride-hailing via robotaxis, arguing that its approach enables a rapid expansion without rebuilding an entirely separate system for a new vehicle type.
The Uber partnership is central to that expansion. Waabi said it will deploy robotaxis powered by the Waabi Driver exclusively on Uber, with Uber providing additional milestone-based investment to support development and deployment. Waabi said the partnership contemplates “25,000 or more” Waabi Driver-powered robotaxis over time, which it described as a pathway to accelerate adoption at scale. The companies also framed the collaboration as a step toward safety, efficiency, and sustainability improvements enabled by higher vehicle utilization and lower operational costs.
KEY QUOTES
“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 that for the first time solves the pain points of the industry, and provides an unprecedented opportunity to quickly and seamlessly enter the robotaxi market, delivering a truly scalable solution for both verticals. We are thrilled to partner with the best-in-class ridesharing platform to bring about a safer, more efficient, and sustainable future.”
Raquel Urtasun, founder and CEO of Waabi
“We invest in the companies that are leading the AI era. Waabi has developed a truly groundbreaking Physical AI platform that represents a fundamental leap forward in how next generation driverless technology is being developed. Their remarkable progress in autonomous trucking and rapid expansion into robotaxis demonstrates how their technology unlocks for the first time true scale in the real world. This breakthrough will define AI for decades to come.”
Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures
“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. Waabi is unlocking the potential for autonomy to drive vehicle efficiency and utilization, catalyzing the shift to a more sustainable transportation system.”
Brook Porter, Partner and Co-Founder at G2 Venture Partners
“With a trillion miles driven globally each year, self-driving is one of the largest and most important AI opportunities of our time. Waabi represents a true breakthrough by treating autonomy as a scalable intelligence problem. Built on NVIDIA compute, Waabi is unlocking real deployment—and we’re proud to support them as one of the future giants of AI.”
Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA
“Waabi’s expanded focus on robotaxis marks an important milestone for their team and the AV industry more broadly. We’re very excited to deepen our partnership with Waabi as they significantly scale their Physical AI Platform and enter a new phase of an already remarkable journey.”
Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber
