Nuro Draws New Investment

Weeks after its signature driverless vans made their first public grocery deliveries, Nuro has drawn $940 million in investment funding from SoftBank Vision Fund to boost further expansion.

The new funding marks Nuro’s transition “from a concept into a real business using robotics to connect retailers to customers,” according to a statement from Michael Ronen, managing partner of SoftBank Investment Advisers.

Dave Ferguson, Nuro’s co-founder, said the new financing would help the company “take the next step in realizing our vision for local commerce and the broad application of our technology,” including expanding to new geographies and partners.

Last summer, Nuro and Kroger began a test of deliveries from a Scottsdale, Ariz., Fry’s Food store using self-driving cars. In December, the first orders were delivered via Nuro’s R1 robot—a van designed to make local deliveries.