Nigerian-founded mobility startup, Moove, is finalising a $1.2 billion debt financing deal to support the launch of an autonomous vehicle fleet in the United States in partnership with Alphabet’s self-driving arm, Waymo.
This move, if completed, will be one of the largest debt raises ever by an African tech company, and a big step by Moove in the competitive American mobility market.
Multiple sources close to the matter, who requested anonymity due to the private nature of the deal, revealed that the funding round is oversubscribed.
A mix of private credit institutions and traditional banks are reported to be participating, suggesting a high level of confidence in Moove’s financial structure and business model.
There’s no official comment yet from Waymo, and Moove’s co-founder, Ladi Delano, did not confirm the details of the raise. However, he stated:
“Moove has built strong relationships with some of the world’s leading lenders. We have also fully repaid our first-ever debt facilities, which signals our maturity and marks a key milestone that demonstrates the strength of our platform as we enter the next phase of global autonomous-vehicle infrastructure deployment.”
Moove has come a long way since launching in 2020. Initially built to finance vehicles for ride-hailing drivers across Africa, the company now has operations in more than a dozen countries, including Mexico, India, and the UAE. It currently manages a fleet of 38,000 vehicles.
Revenue performance has also been commendable. Sources say Moove has already pulled in close to $400 million in revenue this year, up from $275 million in 2024. On the back of that growth, the company has reportedly repaid $100 million in loans.
In December 2024, Moove entered a strategic deal with Waymo to finance and deploy self-driving vehicles. The model is changing as Moove plans not just to finance these cars, but to own and manage a fleet of autonomous vehicles in the U.S., a transition from its asset-light leasing strategy to a more infrastructure-heavy operation.
With full control of the fleet, Moove is going beyond enabling mobility to building an end-to-end logistics and transport system powered by autonomous tech. This could open new revenue streams and transform investor perception of the company, from a vehicle financier to a future-forward operator in the mobility tech space.
Despite challenges in the global venture capital space, Moove has kept raising. Last year, it secured $110 million, including a $100 million Series B led by Uber, which pushed its valuation to $750 million.
If this current $1.2 billion deal closes as expected, Moove would be edging closer to unicorn status, with the distinction of executing one of the largest debt deals ever seen from Africa. More importantly, it would place the startup squarely in the centre of a global push toward autonomous transport.
There are still questions about execution risk, regulatory navigation in the U.S., and the capital intensity of fleet ownership. But Moove is betting big and it’s doing so with lenders, not just equity backers, showing up at the table.
For an African startup that began with financing Uber drivers in Lagos, it’s a great pivot into a future where it may soon be running fleets of driverless cars across America.
