Cruise
Reviewed shut-down Updated Mar 23, 2026This profile is AI-generated. If you spot an error, please help us fix it by sharing a URL to the correct information.
Investors
Founders
About
Cruise (originally Cruise Automation) was an autonomous vehicle company founded by Kyle Vogt in October 2013 1. Dan Kan joined as co-founder and COO after the company participated in Y Combinator 2. The company developed self-driving car technology, initially demonstrated through modified Audi vehicles tested on Bay Area highways 3. General Motors acquired Cruise in March 2016 for over $1 billion in cash and stock, when the company had approximately 40 employees 4. Post-acquisition, Cruise continued operating as a subsidiary and raised billions in external funding from SoftBank, Honda, Microsoft, Walmart, and T. Rowe Price 5678. GM spent over $10 billion on Cruise in total 9. In December 2024, GM announced it would stop funding Cruise’s robotaxi operations, citing the competitive landscape and capital requirements 10.
Funding History
| Date | Round | Amount | Lead | Co-investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Seed (YC) | ~$4.3M | Y Combinator | Maven Ventures, Founder Collective 13 |
| Sep 2015 | Series A | $12.5M | Spark Capital | Sam Altman (YC) 3 |
| Mar 2016 | Acquisition by GM | ~$1B+ | General Motors | — 4 |
| May 2018 | Corporate Round | $2.25B | SoftBank Vision Fund | GM ($1.1B additional) 5 |
| Oct 2018 | Corporate Round | $2.75B | Honda | — ($750M equity + $2B over 12 years) 6 |
| May 2019 | Corporate Round | $1.15B | T. Rowe Price | GM, SoftBank Vision Fund, Honda 7 |
| Jan 2021 | Corporate Round | $2B | Microsoft | GM, Honda, institutional investors 8 |
| Apr 2021 | Corporate Round (extension) | $2.75B total | — | Walmart, additional institutional investors 11 |
| Mar 2022 | Corporate Round | $1.35B | GM | (GM also acquired SoftBank’s stake for $2.1B) 12 |
| Jun 2024 | Corporate Round | $850M | GM | — 13 |
Post-money valuations: $14.6B (Oct 2018), $19B (May 2019), $30B+ (Jan 2021) 678.
What Investors Say
“Honda chose to collaborate with Cruise and General Motors based on their leadership in autonomous and electric vehicle technology and our shared vision of a zero-emissions and zero-collision world.” — Seiji Kuraishi, Executive Vice President and Representative Director COO of Honda, October 2018 6
“This is the logical next step in General Motors and Honda’s relationship, given our joint work on electric vehicles, and our close integration with Cruise.” — Mary Barra, Chairman and CEO of GM, October 2018 6
“Our increased investment position not only simplifies Cruise’s shareholder structure, but also provides GM and Cruise maximum flexibility.” — Mary Barra, on GM acquiring SoftBank’s stake and investing an additional $1.35B, March 2022 12
What Founders Say
“Developing and deploying self-driving vehicles at massive scale is the engineering challenge of our generation. Having deep resources to draw on as we pursue our mission is a critical competitive advantage.” — Dan Ammann, Cruise CEO, on the $1.15B round, May 2019 7
Sources
-
Cruise, Y Combinator company page, accessed March 2026. https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/cruise↩↩
-
Dan Kan (executive), Wikipedia, accessed March 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Kan_(executive) ↩
-
TechCrunch, “Cruise Raises $12.5M From Spark, YC’s Sam Altman For Self-Driving Cars,” September 18, 2015. https://techcrunch.com/2015/09/18/cruise-2/↩↩↩
-
Fortune, “GM Buying Self-Driving Tech Startup for More Than $1 Billion,” March 11, 2016. https://fortune.com/2016/03/11/gm-buying-self-driving-tech-startup-for-more-than-1-billion/↩↩
-
TechCrunch, “GM Cruise raises $1.15B at a $19B valuation from SoftBank and Honda,” May 7, 2019. https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/07/gm-cruise-raises-1-5b-at-a-19b-valuation-from-softbank-and-honda/↩↩
-
Honda Global Newsroom, “Honda Joins with Cruise and General Motors to Build New Autonomous Vehicle,” October 3, 2018. https://global.honda/en/newsroom/news/2018/c181003eng.html↩↩↩↩↩
-
GM Investor Relations, “Cruise Secures $1.15 Billion of Additional Investment,” May 7, 2019. https://investor.gm.com/news-releases/news-release-details/cruise-secures-115-billion-additional-investment/↩↩↩↩
-
TechCrunch, “Microsoft invests in Cruise in new $2 billion round,” January 19, 2021. https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/19/microsoft-invests-in-cruise-in-new-2-billion-round/↩↩↩
-
Robotics and Automation News, “General Motors to shut down autonomous car developer Cruise despite $10 billion spend,” December 13, 2024. https://roboticsandautomationnews.com/2024/12/13/general-motors-to-shut-down-autonomous-car-developer-cruise-despite-10-billion-spend/87685/↩
-
TechCrunch, “GM is giving up on Cruise robotaxis, pivots to personal autonomous vehicles,” December 11, 2024. https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/11/gm-is-giving-up-on-cruise-robotaxis-pivots-to-personal-autonomous-vehicles/↩
-
TechCrunch, “Walmart helps push Cruise’s latest investment round to $2.75B,” April 15, 2021. https://techcrunch.com/2021/04/15/walmart-helps-push-cruises-latest-investment-round-to-2-75b/↩
-
GM Investor Relations, “GM Announces Additional Investment in Cruise,” March 18, 2022. https://investor.gm.com/news-releases/news-release-details/gm-announces-additional-investment-cruise/↩↩
-
TechCrunch, “GM gives Cruise $850M lifeline as it relaunches robotaxis in Houston,” June 11, 2024. https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/11/gm-gives-cruise-850m-lifeline-as-it-relaunches-robotaxis-in-houston/↩