Why Tech Titans Invested $1 Billion In This First-Time Founder's Self-Driving Car Software Company

Forbes

Forbes Under 30 alum Alex Kendall's self-driving car software company raised $1.05 billion from multiple tech titans. And Kendall pulled it off with no revenue, no customers and no commercially available product.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zoyahasan/2024/07/11/how-this-first-time-founder-got-softbank-nvidia-and-microsoft-to-write-him-a-billion-dollar-check/?ss=under30  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

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00:00Today on Forbes, how this first-time founder got SoftBank, NVIDIA, and Microsoft to write

00:07him a billion-dollar check.

00:10In the summer of 2018, 25-year-old Alex Kendall followed Jensen Huang into an elevator after

00:16the NVIDIA CEO had finished his talk at an AI conference in Salt Lake City.

00:22With only 20 seconds alone with Huang, Kendall pitched him Wave, then a year-old startup

00:27in London, building AI to let cars drive themselves, claiming it could do it safer and cheaper

00:33than anyone else on the road by giving the car, quote, its own brain.

00:39The literal elevator pitch planted the seeds for what, six years later, would become a

00:44$1.05 billion Series C funding round.

00:48Closed in May, the raise attracted investment not only from NVIDIA, but tech titans SoftBank

00:54and Microsoft, a company whose AI bets have propelled it to become one of the world's

00:58most valuable enterprises with a $3 trillion market cap.

01:04Neither Kendall nor his investors would disclose Wave's current valuation.

01:08The deal, however, was the largest cash raise for a tech startup in the U.K., and Kendall

01:14pulled it off with no revenue, no customers, and no commercially available product.

01:21SoftBank investor Kentaro Matsui says, quote,

01:37Matsui also likes how Wave is a pure software play, and how Kendall, now 31 years old, has

01:43secured industry vets like Mobileye's Erez Dagan and Waymo's Dan McCloskey for its leadership

01:49team.

01:50Matsui was first pitched by the founder three years ago, but says late last year is when

01:54car manufacturers began taking serious notice of the startup.

01:59Wave has attracted some of tech's biggest names with the promise of making any car a

02:03self-driving car, using cameras and code alone.

02:07Based on computer vision and the machine learning power of AI, Wave's software processes live

02:13images to train itself to drive via visual observation, like a 15-year-old watching from

02:18the passenger seat.

02:20Kendall, who's a Forbes Under 30 alum, says, quote,

02:41Although it's the same hardware-agnostic approach used in Tesla vehicles — a theory

02:45criticized for its lack of safety measures — Kendall sees an open lane by selling his

02:50technology to third-party car makers.

02:52His pitch?

02:53Wave's software can add self-driving powers to your vehicles, and on the cheap.

02:59Other startups have promised to perform a similar feat, and failed.

03:03Drive.ai, backed by renowned AI scientist Andrew Ng, made headlines for this capital-intensive

03:10undertaking back in 2016.

03:12After raising $77 million, it was bought out by Apple in 2019, on the brink of bankruptcy.

03:19Like any good car salesman, Kendall bet big on test drives.

03:23Armed with driving data collected from partnerships with U.K. delivery companies DPD, Asda, and

03:29the Ocado Group, he trained Wave to navigate London's notoriously tricky roads.

03:34By last spring, Kendall was taking SoftBank's Matsui, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and even

03:41Bill Gates for an autonomous spin through the city's bustling streets.

03:45The demo, where the software navigated swerving bikes, buses, and pedestrian traffic, helped

03:51seal the $1 billion deal.

03:55Growing up in the South Island of New Zealand, Kendall had a knack for building things since

03:59childhood.

04:00In 2014, he landed a scholarship at Cambridge University to pursue a Ph.D. in robotics and

04:06computer vision, where he came up with Wave.

04:09He banded together with co-founder Amar Shah, who's no longer with the company, raised $2

04:14million, and hired 10 other students to bring the idea to life.

04:18A software prototype in hand, he set his sights on finding investors.

04:23Kendall attended as many tech conferences as he could, often flying to the U.S.

04:28His technique was straightforward.

04:30Have a demo ready on his phone and show as many people as possible.

04:34He says, quote, entrepreneurship is about relationships.

04:37You always have to be pitching.

04:40For full coverage, check out Zoya Hassan's piece on Forbes.com.

04:46This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:48Thanks for tuning in.

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