Autonomous vehicles are having a moment and it makes it much easier for smaller companies to raise money. WowGerman startup offering remote-controlled rental cars to receive $60 million in cash from Singaporean tech Grabthe company announced on Monday.
The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval and expected to close by the end of the year, may be followed by “an additional $350 million as common milestones are achieved within the first year,” Vay CEO Thomas von der Ohe said. he wrote on LinkedIn.
The Berlin-based startup uses its technology and human operators to remotely drive rental cars to and from customers. Vay has not yet been commercially developed in real motion in Germanywhere they lacked regulatory clarity until recentlybut the company currently operates in Las Vegas, where it launched in January 2024. Vay now plans to use Grab’s investment to scale and expand its operations in the US
Vay will need to hit certain milestones in the US to unlock additional investment from Grab, including the number of US cities covered, regulatory approvals received and total consumer revenue.
The US is seeing increased competition and rapidly growing offerings of various forms of remote driving. For example, Alphabet-owned Waymo recently announced it will roll out its robotaxi service in Detroit, Las Vegas and San Diego.
Although publicly traded on the Nasdaq, Grab does not operate in the US, where it will be limited to supporting Vay’s growth.
However, Vay describes driverless car rental as complementary to robotaxis. As for Grab, it sees Vay as serving “a growing segment of consumers who prefer not to own cars,” said Grab co-founder and CEO Anthony Tan. press release.
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Vay customers may not own cars, but they still need a driver’s license: Once the car is delivered, the user takes over and drives it like a regular car. But unlike their own car, they don’t have to find a place to park it. Vay says its service costs about half the price of ride-hailing, thanks to this hybrid approach and hardware-light system.
At the same time, the two companies plan to explore synergies between Vay and Grab’s businesses in Southeast Asia. Calling itself “the everyday app for everything,” Grab’s ubiquitous super-app offers taxi, ride-hailing, transportation, grocery shopping and food delivery options, as well as digital payments and financial services.
With a growing interest in mobility, Grab has recently invested in self-driving technology startups including May mobility from the US and WeRide from China. The synergies he finds with Vay may well be on the technology side — for example, he said the driving data collected by Vay could speed up the training of AI models to improve autonomous driving.
This also aligns with Vay’s vision to become more than just an electric car rental fleet. The company has already expanded into commercial and business-to-business services and closed a partnership with self-driving truck company Kodiak Robotics. Ultimately, it aims to create a “global remote driving platform,” von der Ohe told TechCrunch earlier this year.
According to CrunchbaseVay had raised $131.8 million from backers including Kinnevik, Coatue, Eurazeo, Atomico, General Catalyst, Creandum and the European Investment Bank. If fully unlocked, Grab’s investment would be a significant boost. But with Nvidia announcing plans to invest $500 million in British self-driving technology startup Wayve, the race is just beginning.
