Transportation has been an underrepresented sector for venture investors in recent quarters, as money increasingly concentrates in hotter niches such as generative AI. Even so, we are seeing enthusiasm around areas including sustainable batteries, high-tech parking garages, and the autonomous driving software stack.
The broad trend: Gone, for the most part, are giant rounds for autonomous driving upstarts and nascent EV brands. While investors haven’t abandoned transportation, funding to startups in the space is down in 2025 and looks on track to hit one of the lowest annual totals of the past few years.
The numbers: So far in 2025, global transportation-related startups have pulled in just over $21 billion in seed- through growth-stage financing, per Crunchbase data. 1 Investment remains at a fraction of the 2021 peak, with deal counts also on the decline.
The U.S. accounts for a bit less than half of the funding, with about $10 billion going to transportation-focused startups this year. Round counts look likely to hit the lowest point in years.
Noteworthy recent rounds: While overall investment may be lower, we have seen a few jumbo-sized rounds for startups in the transportation space.
Leading the pack is Applied Intuition, which describes itself as a vehicle intelligence provider, offering AI-enabled software to add autonomy and safety features to cars, trucks and other moving machines. The Silicon Valley company raised $600 million at a $15 billion valuation in a June Series F round co-led by BlackRock and Kleiner Perkins.
More recently, Los Angeles-based Metropolis, an AI-powered checkout-free parking platform, secured $1.6 billion in a November debt and equity fundraise that included a $500 million Series D.
A few weeks earlier, Avride, a startup that operates robotaxis and delivery robots, also picked up one of the year’s larger financings. The company announced in October that it has secured up to $375 million in commitments backed by Uber and Nebius Group.
Another repeat name on the top funding recipient list is battery recycling startup Redwood Materials. The Carson City, Nevada, company closed a $350 million Series E last month, bringing total funding to date to more than $4 billion.
Transportation forges ahead, but perhaps with fewer VCs in the driver’s seat
Declining venture investment to the transportation sector isn’t evidence in itself that innovation in the space is decelerating. There are plenty of other entities that can lead the charge, including automakers and established public companies like Uber, Boeing, Airbus, FedEx, and a long list of others.
Rather, startup investors may be backing away from the space more due to a lack of lucrative recent returns. While venture investors have historically had some big exits in transportation, like Tesla and Uber, the past few years have brought a lot of misses.
As we chronicled a few years ago, a deluge of autonomous driving-related public offerings in the 2020 to 2022 timeline mostly fared poorly, with many eventually shuttering. Venture-backed upstart EV makers like Fisker and Faraday Future also fizzled, while Rivian shares are down over 85% from their peak. The bankruptcy of heavily funded battery maker Northvolt delivered another bolt of negative news.
Still, there are bright spots in the mix as well. EV sales are on the rise globally. Demand for recycled batteries is forecast to rise. And public investors still have an appetite for transportation innovators, as demonstrated by this month’s IPO of electric aircraft maker Beta Technologies.
Transportation remains an enormous industry as well, estimated in the U.S. alone to total $2.5 trillion or 8.5% of GDP. And by definition, it’s not an industry that’s prone to standing still.
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Illustration: Dom Guzman
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