Moove’s $250m funding round puts autonomous vehicles in focus

Moove has raised $250 million in a Series C funding round led by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala, putting the mobility startup’s valuation at $2.1 billion. The company started in Lagos in 2020 with a simple model. Moove financed cars for ride-hailing drivers, who used their earnings from platforms such as Uber to repay the vehicles. Six years later, Moove says it has financed 42,000 vehicles. But the company is now spending more time and money on vehicles that do not need drivers. Moove started working on autonomous vehicles in 2023. It has since become a fleet operations partner for Waymo in Phoenix and Miami, with London also in its plans. The work puts Moove on the other side of the mobility business. Instead of financing a car to a driver, it wants to own and operate the vehicles itself.

Moove is building the infrastructure too

Running a robotaxi fleet involves more than putting an autonomous vehicle on the road. The vehicles still need somewhere to charge, get cleaned, repaired and prepared for their next trip. Moove is building facilities called “Nests” to handle some of this work. The sites will use robotics for charging and maintenance and are designed to operate around the clock. The company has about 150 people working on its autonomous vehicle operations and wants to grow that team to 500 by the end of 2026. Moove also says it already owns robotaxis from an autonomous vehicle developer, although it has not disclosed which company supplied them. Its long term plan is to own hundreds of thousands of autonomous vehicles.

The driver business has had its problems

There is an interesting contrast with how Moove built the business. In Nigeria, some drivers have had disputes with the company over its vehicle-financing model. The Amalgamated Union of App Based Transporters of Nigeria threatened industrial action against Moove and Uber in 2025, accusing the companies of exploitative practices. Some drivers have also accused Moove of taking back vehicles and changing repayment records. The Nigeria Labour Congress later got involved and announced plans for what it called the “mother of all protests”. Uber has said the decisions involved in the dispute were Moove’s responsibility. Autonomous vehicles take the driver out of that relationship altogether. Moove owns the vehicles, operates the fleets and deals with the infrastructure needed to keep them running.

Most of the expansion is happening outside Africa

Moove now operates in 29 cities across 13 countries. The company says its traditional mobility business is on track to reach full profitability this year and generates about $420 million in annual recurring revenue. The new $250 million will mainly go towards its autonomous vehicle business. That includes buying and operating fleets and building the charging, maintenance and data infrastructure around them. Moove is focusing this expansion on markets in the US, Europe and Asia. For a company that started by helping African gig workers get cars, that is a notable change in direction. The driver financing business built Moove. Its latest funding is being used to build a business where the driver may no longer be needed.