May Mobility, a US-based self-driving shuttle service provider, announced on Thursday that it has raised $50 million in a Series B round led by Toyota Motor Corporation.
The round also saw the participation of SPARX Group and existing investors Millennium Technology Value Partners, Cyrus Capital Partners, BMW iVentures, and Toyota AI Ventures.
The corpus raised will help the company make strategic recruitments across functions such as engineering and operations, besides helping it expand its vehicle fleet to meet growing demand.
“This round will help us accelerate our path to executing our vision, leveraging our best-in-class software stack and continuing to tap into the $28 billion US first and last-mile transportation market,” said May Mobility president and chief executive officer Edwin Olson.
The Series B funding round brings the company’s total capital raised to $84 million. Additionally, Toyota has also selected May Mobility as one of its partners in the autonomous TaaS segment for future open mobility platforms.
The startup, which has provided over 170,000 revenue-generating rides, deploys its six-seat shuttle on the high-density areas, aiming to ease problems pertaining to gridlock, wait times, accessibility and availability.
“May Mobility already has a track record of commercialising autonomous driving shuttles in the US, and we see this as an exciting opportunity to collaborate with a seasoned partner in this area,” said Keiji Yamamoto, Toyota Operating Officer and President of Toyota’s in-house Connected Company.
In February this year, the startup raised $22 million in series A round led by Millennium New Horizons and Cyrus Capital Partners, along with LG Technology Ventures, Thayer Ventures, and existing investors BMW i Ventures, Maven Ventures, Toyota AI Ventures, and Y Combinator.
The Series A round came immediately after the startup raised $11.5 million seed round in February.
According to a study by Oregon-based Allied Market Research, the global market for autonomous driving is estimated to be worth $54.23 billion in 2019, which will rise to $556.67 billion by 2026, with an annual compound annual growth rate of 39.47 per cent.