May Mobility raises $105 million

Self-driving shuttle startup May Mobility announced the closing of a $105 million Series D round led by Japanese telecommunications company NTT Group, with participation from Toyota Ventures, Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Company, State Farm Ventures, BMW i Ventures, Cyrus Capital and Trucks Venture Capital thus far.

This latest round brings May Mobility’s total funding to approximately $300 million.

Founded in 2017, May Mobility’s autonomous shuttles provided more than 350,000 rides to date. It partners with cities, transit agencies, municipalities and government agencies to solve transportation challenges for communities.

The company will use the proceeds to accelerate the advancement and commercialization of its AV technology and services in the US, Canada and Japan. The company has deployed its AVs in 12 cities in the US and Japan. Additionally, the funding will assist in scaling operations and pave a path for the company to reach profitability.

“Our success in this fundraising is a strong validation of May’s proven business model and provides the fuel and momentum to realize our next phase of growth. Our approach has been to work with best-in-class partners to bring our technology and services to market and we’re excited to partner with a leading multinational technology firm of NTT’s caliber and to develop our business in Japan together Autonomous transportation has a significant role to play in transforming our cities and improving our lives. With this financing, we expect to expand our vision of making transportation more safe, sustainable and accessible for all.” – Edwin Olson, CEO and co-founder of May Mobility.

May Mobility also takes a differentiated approach to its AV technology. With a deep understanding of the commercialization challenges, the company’s proprietary Multi-Policy Decision Making (MPDM) technology can adaptively handle situations it hasn’t encountered before. The technology’s ability to imagine multiple scenarios in real time enables May Mobility to scale to new markets and cities on a fraction of the capital required by other AV systems.