Amazon, Sequoia Capital invest $530M in local self-driving firm
Aurora Innovation — the Lawrenceville-based autonomous vehicles company competing with the likes of Uber, Argo AI and Aptiv — has raised $530 million in Series B venture capital funding from both Amazon and well-known investment company Sequoia Partners, it announced Thursday.
The round was led by Sequoia, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based investment firm, known for funding well-known technology companies like Facebook-owned messaging application Whatsapp, business networking website LinkedIn and cloud applications company Oracle.
As part of the deal, Carl Eschenbach, a partner at Sequoia, will join Aurora’s board of directors.
Marking its first investment in self-driving technology, Amazon also contributed to the round.
It’s unclear what that means moving forward, but it’s possible that the Seattle-based e-retailer is looking at autonomous technology to lower the costs associated with delivering packages or perhaps to deliver groceries from the chain of Whole Foods stores the company bought last year.
The move comes amid recent concerns that self-driving cars may not become a reality for at least another decade.
Baltimore-based investment firm, T. Rowe Price Associates Inc., Lightspeed Venture Partners, Geodesic, Shell Ventures, and Reinvent Capital also contributed to the round, among others.
Aurora plans to use the funding to accelerate development of its autonomous vehicles, which do operate on Pittsburgh roads.
“Automated vehicles will move people and goods more safely, inexpensively, and efficiently throughout the world’s cities,” Aurora said in a blog post. “Achieving a goal this ambitious requires long-term dedication, experience and resources.”