ANN ARBOR—May Mobility, developers of autonomous vehicle technology, has closed a Series C round of funding with an investment of $83 million, led by the Tokyo-based Mirai Creation Fund II, a Sparx Group Co., Ltd. managed fund that is renowned for supporting high-growth, high-tech companies, and which has made 76 investments to date.
New investors include Japan’s Tokio Marine and Toyota Tsusho, along with returning investors Toyota Ventures of San Francisco, New York City-based Millennium Technology Value Partners and Cyrus Capital Partners, Greenwich, Conn.-based 1843 Capital, Mountain View, Calif.-based BMW i Ventures, and Orlando, Fla.-based Bay Lake Ventures. Final closing of the financing is expected to take place near the end of the first quarter in March.
May Mobility announced the initial closing of their Series C investment round to help rapidly deploy their autonomous vehicle technology on Toyota’s autonomous-ready platforms, including the Sienna Autono-MaaS.
“With this initial Series C funding, our latest group of global strategic investment partners will enable us to rapidly deploy our technology on Toyota’s autonomous-ready platforms, including the Sienna Autono-MaaS,” said Edwin Olson, CEO of May Mobility. “We will continue to challenge the status quo of transit by reshaping the future of the AV industry.”
May Mobility, driven by its proprietary Multi-Policy Decision Making (MPDM) autonomous driving technology, has provided more than 300,000 revenue-generating rides and launched services in nine cities, including their first international deployment in Higashihiroshima, Japan. The initial investment in this round of funding brings the total amount raised by May Mobility to $166 million and is set to help the company increase its engineering headcount, expand its global customer pool, enhance rider experiences and further invest in technology advancements, including driver-out operations in 2023.
“Automated vehicles will play a significant role in addressing urgent social issues such as environmental problems, aging infrastructure, and labor shortages,” said Sparx President Shuhei Abe. “May Mobility is engaged in research and deployments aimed at the implementation of automated driving technology that can be on the road today, not someday. “With a strong partner in Toyota Motor Corporation, May Mobility has steadily grown its technology and business. Through the Mirai Creation Fund II, SPARX will support the growth of May Mobility to contribute to creating a brighter future together.”
In addition, this round of funding will enable May Mobility to continue its partnership with Toyota, working on future platforms and future public deployments of the Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS equipped with May’s autonomous driving kit by 2023.
By partnering with municipalities, business districts, educational campuses and residential areas, May Mobility solves transportation challenges with autonomous vehicles, outperforming traditional approaches on a wide variety of metrics by providing first/last mile services that fill gaps in existing transportation infrastructure. May Mobility’s most recent two deployments included Ann Arbor in October and Fishers, Ind. in, collaboration with Toyota Mobility Foundation, in December.
More at maymobility.com.