Morrison Foerster (MoFo) is advising SoftBank Group Corp. (“SoftBank”), which is leading a $1.05 billion funding round in UK-based autonomous driving company Wayve.
MoFo represented SoftBank, as it led on Wayve’s Series C funding round, with contributions from new investor NVIDIA and existing investor Microsoft. This landmark investment will accelerate Wayve’s mission to reimagine autonomous mobility through embodied intelligence.
Founded in 2017, Wayve is a pioneer in Embodied AI for autonomous driving, having been the first to develop and test an end-to-end (e2e) deep learning autonomous driving system on public roads.
Commenting on the investment, global co-chair of MoFo’s M+A practice, Gary Brown said: “We are thrilled to have represented SoftBank on its investment in Wayve, which is one of the largest ever investments in a UK-based AI company, and puts it at the forefront of efforts to harness AI to revolutionize autonomous driving.”
The MoFo team in London was led by Gary Brown and corporate senior associate Carlo Pia, with support from corporate associates Sebastian Lello and Carlotta Pregnolato. The global deal team included Boston corporate partner Leo Martin and associate Jacob Robart, London technology and commercial partner Charlotte Walker-Osborn and associates Sana Ashcroft, Mercedes Samavi and Michelle Si-Ting Luo, London employment and privacy partner Annabel Gillham, counsel Oliver Spratt and associates Lara King and Dan Alam, London antitrust and national security partner Marie-Claire Strawbridge and associate Julia Kotamaki, and Washington DC national security partners Charles Capito and James Brower and associate Nicholas Weigel.
