Latham and Weil act as British AI startup Wayve raises $1.2bn

Latham and Weil have steered clients through UK AI startup Wayve’s $1.2 billion Series D funding round.

London-based Wayve, which builds AI technology for self-driving cars, said the round values the business at $8.6 billion post-money and marks a shift from research-led development to “scaled commercial deployment of its end-to-end AI platform.”

The raise was led by Eclipse, Balderton and SoftBank. Microsoft, NVIDIA and Uber also participated.

Wayve licenses its AI driver technology directly to carmakers, allowing them to customise driving models for specific vehicles and brands.

Uber’s participation goes beyond capital. The ride-hailing giant has committed additional funding to support rollouts of Wayve-powered robotaxis on its network, with plans to expand to more than 10 markets globally. The first service is expected to launch in London this year.

Advising

Latham & Watkins advised Wayve on the transaction. The team was led by London corporate partner Shing Lo, alongside associates Ryan Martin, Toni Adejuyigbe and Cyrus Fung, with tax advice from partner Sean Finn.

The mandate continues Latham’s long-running relationship with the company and key investors. Lo previously led on Wayve’s earlier Series A, B and C rounds for investor Eclipse Ventures, and in December advised Wayve on its acquisition of German AI data specialist Quality Match.

Weil acted for London-based investor Balderton, one of the lead investors, with a team led by London co-managing partner David Avery-Gee, supported by counsel Timur Sauerborn and associate Melanie Yu.