Moove raises $250M at $2.1B led by Abu Dhabi's Mubadala to build the depot layer for robotaxis

Moove has raised $250 million at a $2.1 billion valuation in a Series C led by Mubadala Investment Company, with Woven Capital, Toyota's growth fund, and Ion Pacific co-leading.

BlueCrest Capital Management and Sona Capital also joined, alongside existing backers including Uber, BlackRock, MUFG, Franklin Templeton, Left Lane and the Ontario Power Generation Pension Plan.

The valuation is 2.8x the $750 million Moove commanded in the $100 million round Uber led in 2024. The capital funds an expansion of its autonomous vehicle business, including fleet ownership and the build-out of what the company calls Nests, robotics-first depots where driverless fleets are charged, serviced, maintained and orchestrated for continuous operation. Moove expects to grow its AV workforce from around 150 today to roughly 500 by the end of the year.

The company was founded in 2020 by Ladi Delano and Jide Odunsi, initially financing vehicles for ride-hailing drivers in African markets on a revenue-based model, addressing a credit gap where only a small fraction of new cars on the continent are bought with financing.

From an initial 76 vehicles in Lagos it now runs approximately 42,000 across 29 cities in 13 countries with 3,300 employees and $420 million in annual recurring revenue, having expanded through acquisitions including Kovi in Brazil and Tokyo Taxi in Japan. It’s Uber's largest global fleet partner.

The autonomous business began in December 2024, when Waymo named Moove its fleet operations partner for Phoenix and Miami, the company's first US market and first AV work. Moove took responsibility for fleet operations, facilities and charging infrastructure for Waymo's electric fleet, with London confirmed as the first international expansion.

That work is capital-intensive. Moove raised more than $1 billion in debt last year specifically to finance vehicles for the Waymo partnership, a structure that positions it to own an autonomous fleet while Waymo concentrates on the driving technology itself.

"Every major technology revolution becomes an infrastructure race," said Delano, co-founder and co-CEO. "The internet required data centres. AI required compute. Autonomy requires fleets, charging, maintenance, data systems and 24/7 operations in every city."

For Mubadala, which first backed Moove in 2023, leading a $76 million package of equity and debt that included $28 million in equity, $10 million in venture debt from BlackRock-managed funds and $38 million previously undisclosed, the round fits a pattern of backing infrastructure platforms with a UAE anchor.

At the time the company was framed as a mobility fintech serving what Mubadala's Faris Sohail Al Mazrui called a "hugely underbanked and underserved market" of drivers without access to credit.

"Mubadala is investing in enabling infrastructure and scalable platforms like Moove that support economic diversification and strengthen the UAE's role as a hub for advanced technologies," said Ali Eid AlMheiri, executive director of diversified assets at its UAE investments platform.

The model gives Moove revenue from financing, fleet ownership and maintenance at once, but it also demands capital for vehicles, property, charging equipment and staff in every market it enters.