Self-Driving Software Company Closes $300M Deal, Months After $250M Funding Round

Autonomous vehicle software developer Applied Intuition has confirmed it has closed a secondary sale worth more than $300 million.

The deal, which was oversubscribed, allowed shareholders and employees to sell stock in the company, at the same time enabling venture capitalists to take a larger piece of the pie.

It comes mere months after the Silicon Valley-based firm announced a series E funding round of $250 million, which took its value to $6 billion.

Fidelity Management and Research Company has been welcomed as a new investor, while existing investors General Catalyst, BOND, Lux Capital and Elad Gil also participated.

The secondary round underlines the continuing rise to prominence of AI companies, particularly those that can assist in the development of automated and autonomous driving.

Applied Intuition started out in 2017 as a developer of driving simulators for autonomous vehicle (AV) developers but has evolved to offer a wide range of software.

Essentially its product offering now allows companies to check whether their own AV solutions are safe, as well as facilitate swifter assessment of the massive amount of data generated by testing.

Recent innovations include an off-road autonomy stack solution that allows safe navigation of unstructured terrain, a generative AI tool that creates simulation scenarios 40 times faster than the norm, and an automated parking development solution.

Related:Self-Driving Vehicle Software Company Closes $250M Funding Round

A measure of Applied Intuition’s growing influence is that it claims to have deals in place with 18 of the world’s top 20 automakers.

Among these is a partnership with German brand Audi, part of the Volkswagen Group, which was announced in April. This followed a similar partnership with Porsche, also part of the VW family, which was confirmed in March.

Beyond automakers, Applied Intuition is also working with some leading names wholly focused on AV tech, including Gatik and Kodiak Robotics, which have been making waves with self-driving truck solutions, and Motional, which has been operating robotaxis in Las Vegas.

The new funding will be used to increase Applied Intuition’s workforce and expand the product portfolio.

“Applied Intuition is going full speed ahead and benefiting from the extraordinary confluence of AI, autonomous driving and electrification,” said Peter Ludwig, co-founder and CTO. “Every customer we meet wants to build future-proof products and looks to us as a mission-critical partner.”