Today’s announcement (January 11, 2023) raises investment in the Oxford-headquartered company to $225m, with additional investors expected to sign on before the funding round closes in a few months.
Shareholders who are re-investing include bp ventures, BGF, Halma, Hostplus, Kiko Ventures (IP Group), Ocado Group, Tencent, Venture Science and ZF. Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Co., Ltd and ENEOS Innovation Partners are among new investors.
The funding will drive Oxbotica’s expansion in North America, EMEA and APAC, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomy operating system in areas including agriculture, airports, energy, goods delivery, mining and shared passenger transportation.
In a statement, Gavin Jackson, CEO of Oxbotica, said: “This landmark investment from world-class investors is a tremendous validation of our strategy to apply self-driving technology where there is persistent and urgent demand - in supply chains, industrial sectors and in decongesting our cities.”
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Oxbotica’s software fulfils the company’s vision for Universal Autonomy, where any vehicle, of any size, in any place can operate autonomously, safely and sustainably.
The company’s projects include a collaboration with Ocado Group that is focussed on autonomous goods delivery to fulfil customer orders. The software-defined vehicle from partner Applied EV, driven by Oxbotica, has operated with no on-board driver on a publicly accessible road in Oxford.
Oxbotica is working also with Wenco International Mining Systems on demonstrating the benefits of open autonomy to mining to improve safety and lower operational costs. In 2024, autonomous passenger shuttles and industry-specific vehicles will be launched in partnership with Applied EV, bp, NEVS and ZF.
“Oxbotica was founded eight years ago on the vision of Universal Autonomy - providing safe and sustainable autonomy that is independent of workplace and vehicle type,” said Paul Newman, CTO and a Founder of Oxbotica. “With the greatest engineering talent and experience, using the best of AI, robotics and the metaverse, we are delivering on that promise.”
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