May Mobility closes $111 million in funding, developing Toyota's next mobility platform

May Mobility, developer and deployer of autonomous vehicle (AV) technology, closed a $111 million Series C round of funding. The company will continue pursuing its deployment programs using the Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS vehicle platform while beginning development on another vehicle design centered around mobility, Toyota's e-Palette, signaling the next potential milestone as it seeks new ways to bring equitable mobility solutions to the masses.

"With the close of this latest investment round, May Mobility will continue to accelerate growth in our technology, business development and platforms, all with a global reach," said Edwin Olson, CEO of May Mobility. "Our additional investors, as well as our continued strategic collaboration with Toyota and others, will enable us to march toward driver-out commercial operations in 2023 and enable our expansion into new markets as we roll out more Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS vehicles now and look to next generation platforms, such as the e-Palette."

May Mobility is continuing its collaboration with Toyota. Sienna Autono-MaaS vehicle platforms modified by May Mobility have already been launched for testing and demonstrations in Ann Arbor, with other public deployment locations anticipated in late 2022. The program also features an ADA-compliant up-fit through the company's partnership with Braunability.

May Mobility has begun initial development work on incorporating the company's ADK onto the Toyota e-Palette, a battery-electric vehicle platform positioned to further transform the future of mobility. With greater rider capacity and the expansion of more efficient transit services made possible from a platform like e-Palette, May Mobility will continue its mission to ultimately reduce traffic and the need for parking lots and garages, creating more livable green space.

"We are already seeing the benefits of using Toyota's Sienna Autono-MaaS vehicle platform as it was designed from the ground up to interface with computers, and we look forward to future discussions on the use of Toyota's e-Palette as an exciting opportunity to set new milestones as we transform mobility with an autonomous, electric vehicle platform. This platform, coupled with our technology, has the power and capability to accelerate the future of mobility," said Olson.

Investors support driver-out operations
Bringing the company's total raised funding to date to $194 million, the round is expected to increase May Mobility's engineering headcount, expand its global customer base, enhance rider experiences, and further invest in technology advancements. With this round of funding, May Mobility has doubled down on its commitment to driver-out operations in 2023. SoftBank, State Farm Ventures, Next Century Ventures, SAIC, Wanxiang, Karma and 10x Group join the list of partners committed to the company's mission of driving a greener, more accessible future through mobility. The round was led by SPARX Group Co., Ltd.'s Mirai Creation Fund II alongside Tokio Marine, Toyota Tsusho, Bridgestone Americas and returning investors Toyota Ventures, Millennium Technology Value Partners, Cyrus Capital Partners, LG Technology Ventures, and Maven Ventures, among others.