With the tremendous strides that companies have made in bringing various levels of self-driving capabilities to today's cars, forward-looking investors are turning to self-driving car businesses, leading them to consider Wayve stock.
Since its founding in 2017, the London-based company has made tremendous inroads in the field of autonomous driving. According to Crunchbase, Wayve's funding totals about $1.3 billion, and the company proclaims itself as "the first [company] to develop and test an end-to-end (e2e) AI autonomous driving system on public roads." Addressing the company's future, Wayve CEO Alex Kendall has said that the company's "vision is to develop autonomous technology that not only becomes a reality in millions of vehicles but also earns people's trust by seamlessly integrating into their everyday lives to unlock extraordinary value."
Before trying to park Wayve stock in your portfolio, there are important things to take into account. Potential investors, for example, will want to consider how to buy shares of Wayve, when it might hold a potential initial public offering (IPO), and whether there are alternative investment opportunities.
Is Wayve publicly traded?
A privately held company, Wayve stock is not found on the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq stock exchange, or other exchanges.
In addition to the equity in the company that insiders own, there are a variety of other organizations that have investments in Wayve. When the company completed a $1.05 billion Series C funding round in May 2024, investors included SoftBank Group (SFTB.Y -5.28%), semiconductor powerhouse Nvidia (NVDA +1.30%), and Microsoft (MSFT +1.44%), which had also participated in a Series B funding round.
When will Wayve IPO?
Between the explosion in popularity of artificial intelligence (AI) stocks and the unique growth opportunities that IPO stocks represent, it's no wonder that many investors are keenly focused on the possibility of buying Wayve stock at its IPO.
However, investors who are interested in Wayve will have to wait since the company is not on the IPO calendar, and there's no indication that it plans to launch an IPO anytime soon.
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Is Wayve profitable?
Because it's a privately held company, Wayve isn't required to submit regulatory filings like its publicly traded peers. As a result, it's unclear whether the company is generating revenue, let alone making a profit.
But it's quite possible that Wayve will be earning revenue before long. According to the company, the completion of the recent Series C funding round will help the company launch its first product with L2+ ADAS. Nvidia characterizes Level 2 (L2) automated driving as systems that provide steering and brake/acceleration support, as well as lane centering and adaptive cruise control. L2+ includes intelligent cockpit services, such as driver monitoring, AI copilot technology using voice and gesture recognition, and advanced in-cabin visualization.
Should I invest in Wayve?
For the majority of investors, wondering if they should or shouldn't invest in Wayve is moot since the company hasn't held an IPO. If the company proceeds with an IPO, it will have to submit regulatory filings, and investors will have much better insight into the company's financials.
Accredited investors, however, may be able to gain exposure to Wayve right now, although they should only consider a position if they're comfortable with a more speculative investment.
ETFs with exposure to Wayve
Because Wayve is a privately held company, investors can't gain exposure to the stock through an exchange-traded fund (ETF). Still, there are several ETFs that provide exposure to stocks closely related to Wayve.
- iShares Self-Driving EV and Tech ETF (IDRV +0.09%): In addition to self-driving car stocks, the 49 holdings in the iShares Self-Driving EV and Tech ETF include battery stocks and stocks related to EVs in general. The ETF may also rev the heartbeats of income investors since the fund makes distributions on a semi-annual basis and has a yield of about 2.6% to help cover the expense ratio of 0.47%.
- Global X Autonomous & Electric Vehicles ETF (DRIV -0.14%): For investors interested in AI and tech industry leaders in general, the Global X Autonomous & Electric Vehicles ETF is a great option. Representing 6.5% of the portfolio, Toyota Motor (TM -0.68%) is the largest holding in the ETF; Microsoft is the second-largest position. Qualcomm, Alphabet (GOOGL -2.40%), and Nvidia round out the ETF's top five of the ETF's 75 holdings. The Global X Autonomous & Electric Vehicles ETF has $333 million in net assets and a 0.68% total expense ratio.
- ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (ARKQ -0.04%): While some investors may want concentrated exposure to self-driving car stocks, others may want more measured exposure to the burgeoning industry. For them, the ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF is a smart choice. While autonomous mobility represents about 42% of the Cathie Wood-backed ETF, there are a variety of other industries represented by the holdings: battery technologies, neural networks, and smart devices, to name a few. With an 11.7% weighting, Tesla is the fund's largest holding. The ETF has $1.01 billion in net assets, and it has an expense ratio of 0.75%.
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The bottom line on Wayve
Fully autonomous vehicles may not appear in traffic now, but Wayve is making progress toward making this stuff of the future a reality sooner rather than later.
Wayve is still a privately held company, though, and there's no sign of an IPO coming down the road, so investors will have to find alternative investment opportunities. They have options to consider, such as the indirect exposure afforded by Nvidia, Tesla, Qualcomm, and ETFs that focus on autonomous mobility companies.
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