Applied Intuition, a startup specializing in autonomous vehicle software, has secured $300 million in funding just four months after closing a $250 million Series E round, highlighting the strong investment interest in artificial intelligence companies.
Fidelity Management & Research Company joined Applied Intuition’s impressive list of investors in the secondary round, which also includes Lux Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Mary Meeker’s growth fund Bond. This round allowed current and former employees, as well as early backers, to sell their equity.
Established in 2017, Applied Intuition develops software used by other companies to build and test autonomous vehicle solutions for various types of vehicles. Their simulations help automakers assess perception stacks and vehicle behavior systems, while their data management software aids in efficiently handling vast amounts of autonomous driving-related data.
Co-founder Qasar Younis envisions Applied Intuition as the go-to solution for automakers and defense companies facing software or AI challenges. The startup already has partnerships with top automakers like General Motors, Toyota, and Volkswagen, as well as with AV startups Gatik, Motional, and Kodiak.
Despite a strong focus on generative AI startups, Applied Intuition’s oversubscribed secondary round reflects the continued investor interest in this sector. In the first half of 2024, over 250 startups in this space raised a total of $12.3 billion, according to Crunchbase data.
As the IPO market for tech startups diminishes, secondary sales have surged, with the market growing from $35 billion in 2017 to an estimated $138 billion by 2023, based on data from Industry Ventures.
