UK self-driving car technology startup Wayve is giving its employees the opportunity to cash in on their equity, as it looks to “retain talent”.
Wayve, which is one of the UK's best-funded startups, is launching what is called an employee tender offer.
It is a mechanism which gives startup employees the chance to sell shares to new and existing investors.
The $85m tender offer is being led by new and exising investors in Wayve, which was valued at $8.6bn in February this year, when it raised $1.2bn in a Series D round.
It marks the second time Wayve, which employs 1,200 people, has carried out a tender offer, following one in its 2024 $1.05bn Series C funding round.
Employee tender offers have become increasingly popular amid a drying up of the IPO markets, as startups look to give employees an alternative liquidity option and retain top talent.
Stripe, ElevenLabs and Revolut are examples of startups that have carried them out.
Wayve, which develops software for autonomous vehicles, said the tender offer was a means to ensuring it kept its most prized employees.
It said: ”Building embodied AI is not like building regular software. It demands a rare combination of talent across AI and in our case, automotive, from robotics and machine learning researchers to vehicle engineering and compliance experts.
"It also requires the kind of long-term thinking that only comes when people feel invested in the outcome. Retaining and attracting that unique blend of talent requires us to consistently and creatively reward our team."
Wayve is backed by a range of investors including Nvidia, Softbank, Mercedes Benz, Uber, Microsoft and Balderton.
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