Total amount raised
$13.85 Billion
Latest funding date
6/1/2024
Location
Cruise has successfully raised funding over 10 rounds, with significant participation from General Motors. The company, backed by a total of 46 investors, became wholly owned by General Motors in February 2025, when GM began winding down Cruise's robotaxi operations.
Keep reading to explore the intricacies of Cruise's fundraising journey and the investors backing this innovative platform.
What Is Cruise?
Cruise is an autonomous vehicle company based in San Francisco, California. It focused on developing electric cars for urban mobility and operated within several industries, including AI, automotive, autonomous vehicles, machine learning, and transportation.
Founded in 2013 as Cruise Automation, Cruise was acquired by General Motors in March 2016 and has employed between 1001 and 5000 people. The company raised funding through 10 rounds and acquired five organizations before General Motors began winding down its robotaxi operations in February 2025.
How Much Funding Has Cruise Raised?
- Corporate Round
- Amount Raised: USD 2,000,000
- Date: November 2015
- Lead Investors: Qualcomm Ventures
- Valuation at Round: Not publicly disclosed
- Motivation Behind the Round: To support early-stage development and innovation in autonomous vehicle technology.
- Corporate Round
- Amount Raised: USD 2,000,000,000
- Date: May 2018
- Lead Investors: General Motors, SoftBank Vision Fund
- Valuation at Round: Not publicly disclosed
- Motivation Behind the Round: To accelerate the development and deployment of autonomous vehicle technology.
- Corporate Round
- Amount Raised: USD 750,000,000
- Date: October 2018
- Lead Investors: Honda Motor
- Valuation at Round: Not publicly disclosed
- Motivation Behind the Round: To enhance collaboration and integration of autonomous vehicle technology with Honda.
- Corporate Round
- Amount Raised: USD 1,150,000,000
- Date: May 2019
- Lead Investors: Not publicly disclosed
- Valuation at Round: Not publicly disclosed
- Motivation Behind the Round: To further the development and testing of autonomous vehicles.
- Corporate Round
- Amount Raised: USD 2,000,000,000
- Date: January 2021
- Lead Investors: General Motors, Microsoft
- Valuation at Round: Not publicly disclosed
- Motivation Behind the Round: To support the commercialization of autonomous vehicle technology.
- Corporate Round
- Amount Raised: USD 750,000,000
- Date: April 2021
- Lead Investors: Walmart
- Valuation at Round: Not publicly disclosed
- Motivation Behind the Round: To expand autonomous delivery services.
- Debt Financing
- Amount Raised: USD 5,000,000,000
- Date: June 2021
- Lead Investors: GM Financial
- Valuation at Round: Not publicly disclosed
- Motivation Behind the Round: To finance the purchase of self‑driving Origin shuttles for commercialization.
- Corporate Round
- Amount Raised: USD 1,350,000,000
- Date: February 2022
- Lead Investors: General Motors
- Valuation at Round: Not publicly disclosed
- Motivation Behind the Round: To advance autonomous vehicle technology and expand operations.
- Secondary Market
- Amount Raised: USD 2,100,000,000
- Date: March 2022
- Lead Investors: General Motors
- Valuation at Round: Not publicly disclosed
- Motivation Behind the Round: To provide liquidity for existing shareholders and support company growth.
- Corporate Round
- Amount Raised: USD 850,000,000
- Date: June 2024
- Lead Investors: General Motors
- Valuation at Round: Not publicly disclosed
- Motivation Behind the Round: To continue the development and deployment of autonomous vehicle technology.
Total Amount Raised: USD 13,852,000,000. Current Valuation: Not publicly disclosed. Excludes the March 2022 USD 2.1 billion secondary-market purchase, in which General Motors bought existing shares and Cruise raised no new capital.
Key Investors
- General Motors
- Details: General Motors (GM) is a leading global automotive company that acquired Cruise in 2016. GM has been a significant investor in Cruise, participating in multiple funding rounds.
- Investment Focus Areas: Automotive, electric vehicles, autonomous driving technology.
- Notable Investments: Cruise.
- Walmart
- Details: Walmart is a multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores. Walmart has invested in Cruise to expand its autonomous delivery services.
- Investment Focus Areas: Retail, e‑commerce, logistics, supply chain technology.
- Notable Investments: Cruise.
- Microsoft
- Details: Microsoft is a global technology company known for its software products, including the Windows operating system and Office suite. Microsoft has invested in Cruise to support the development of autonomous vehicle technology.
- Investment Focus Areas: Cloud computing, artificial intelligence, enterprise software.
- Notable Investments: Cruise.
- Honda Motor
- Details: Honda Motor is a Japanese multinational conglomerate known for manufacturing automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment. Honda has collaborated with GM in the development of the Cruise Origin.
- Investment Focus Areas: Automotive, electric vehicles, autonomous driving technology.
- Notable Investments: Cruise.
- SoftBank Vision Fund
- Details: SoftBank Vision Fund is a technology‑focused investment fund managed by SoftBank Group. The fund has invested in various technology companies, including Cruise.
- Investment Focus Areas: Technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, telecommunications.
- Notable Investments: Cruise.
What's Next for Cruise?
Cruise secured a $5 billion credit line from GM's financial arm in 2021, and GM stopped funding its robotaxi development in December 2024. In June 2024, Cruise indefinitely delayed development of its self-driving Origin shuttle and wrote off Origin assets.
Cruise has no outside fundraising path, as General Motors completed its acquisition of the remaining noncontrolling interests in February 2025. Its personal-vehicle autonomy work was combined into GM's GMNA Automotive segment as the robotaxi operations wound down.
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