SFTBY - VC Deals: Chipotle invests in autonomous delivery; Epic Games seeks $1B round
The top venture capital investments last week continued to focus on areas that flourished during the pandemic: food delivery and gaming. Chipotle joins $500M bet on Nuro's autonomous delivery vehiclesChipotle (CMG) participated in a $500M Series C round for autonomous delivery startup Nuro. T. Rowe Price Associates (TROW) led the round, which reportedly doubled Nuro's valuation to $5B from its SoftBank-led round in late 2019. Nuro uses robotics in its Prius fleet of on-road, driverless autonomous vehicles. The fleet piloted grocery and prescription deliveries in Houston through CVS, Kroger, and Walmart. Nuro recently received California's first permit for deploying commercial self-driving vehicles in the state. Chipotle's undisclosed investment marks its first significant investment in a third-party tech company since CEO Brian Niccol took the reins in 2018. Pandemic-related demand drove Chipotle's digital business up 174% on the year with about half of those sales coming from delivery. The company views the Nuro investment
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VC Deals: Chipotle invests in autonomous delivery; Epic Games seeks $1B round