Wayve launches $85M employee tender at $8.5B valuation

TechCrunch reported that U.K.-based self-driving startup Wayve is running an $85 million employee tender offer led by existing and new investors. The transaction uses the company's $8.5 billion valuation, set in February during its $1.2 billion Series D backed by Eclipse, Balderton, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Microsoft, Nvidia, Uber, and others. Wayve says its end-to-end neural driving system is aimed at a general-purpose AI driver, and the company has more than doubled headcount to 1,200 employees while preparing Uber robotaxi pilots and Nissan driver-assist integrations.

Key details: Wayve is running an $85 million employee tender offer, The tender uses Wayve's latest $8.5 billion valuation, Wayve has doubled headcount to 1,200 and is targeting Uber and Nissan deployments.

Why it matters: AI tender offers are becoming retention tools, and Wayve shows how autonomous-driving startups are still attracting investor demand despite long deployment timelines.