Oxa raises £77m to commercialise autonomous vehicle software for industrial sites
This article covers Oxa, a mobility startup, closing the first close of a Series D funding round and raising £77m to accelerate commercial deployment of its autonomous vehicle software and robotics for industrial environments. It aims to scale Oxa’s Industrial Mobility Automation offerings across the UK, Europe and the Middle East, supporting deployments in ports, airports, manufacturing sites and energy installations and targeting logistics, asset monitoring and yard operations.
Oxa has closed the first close of a series D funding round, raising £77 million to accelerate commercial deployment of its autonomous vehicle software and robotics for industrial environments. The round is led by National Wealth Fund with participation from NVentures, IP Group, Hostplus and bp Ventures, and the capital will be used to scale Oxa’s Industrial Mobility Automation offerings across the UK, Europe and the Middle East.
Why it matters
Industrial sites such as ports, airports, manufacturing plants and large energy installations are increasingly looking for automation that reduces repetitive driving tasks. Oxa’s funding signals investor confidence in near-term commercial applications of autonomous driving beyond passenger cars — in logistics, asset monitoring and yard operations — where safety gains and labour-cost relief can be realised faster.
Inside the product
Oxa builds a stack for autonomous vehicles tailored to industrial settings. Its Oxa Driver is described as configurable and explainable self-driving software, and Oxa Foundry is a development toolchain intended to speed deployment and adaptation across different vehicle types and sites. Typical use cases include towing and carrying goods, perimeter and asset monitoring at solar farms and industrial plants, and operations in ports and airports.
Customers cited in the announcement — DHL, Vantec and bp — illustrate typical deployment paths: DHL represents logistics operators looking to automate yard and intralogistics; Vantec is a global logistics services provider; bp’s involvement points to industrial and energy-sector use cases and corporate strategic interest in automation.
Who are the investors?
The round is led by the National Wealth Fund and includes NVentures, IP Group, Hostplus and bp Ventures. The investment is presented as funding to commercialise Oxa’s Industrial Mobility Automation product set and accelerate international roll-out.
In the announcement, Oliver Holbourn, CEO at National Wealth Fund, said:
The National Wealth Fund’s investment will give Oxa the support it needs to accelerate the scale and deployment of its ground-breaking technology, unlocking the potential in connected and autonomous mobility. This could provide a significant boost to growth and productivity in the UK, creating an industry worth billions of pounds, generating thousands of well-paid jobs and providing significant productivity benefits across many sectors.
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Founder perspective
In the announcement, Paul Newman, Co-founder & CTO at Oxa, said:
These investments validate our intensified focus on Industrial Mobility Automation (IMA), where the path to commercial deployment at scale is clearest and most immediate. The capital will supercharge the development of our technology, enabling our industrial customers to benefit from significant productivity gains, lower operational costs and increased workplace safety, sooner. We are proud to be developing world-leading technology here in the UK, fundamentally changing the way industry moves and cementing our position as the category leader for IMA globally.
The statement underscores Oxa’s view that industrial applications offer clearer regulatory and operational pathways to scale than road-going autonomous vehicles, and that explainability and configurability are central to convincing industrial customers to adopt self-driving systems.
The bigger picture
In the announcement, Chris McDonald, Minister for Industry, said:
Oxa is a great example of UK excellence in digital technologies that are transforming the global automotive sector, and this investment will boost productivity and improve freight efficiency at home and abroad. With advanced manufacturing and digital technologies being central to our Modern Industrial Strategy, we’re supporting firms like Oxa to strengthen the UK’s position as a global leader in connected and automated mobility.
Oxa’s raise reflects a broader trend where investors and governments back companies applying autonomy to logistics and industrial operations first, because deployments can be more controlled and business cases clearer. The involvement of corporate backers such as bp Ventures also shows strategic interest from incumbents seeking operational efficiency and emissions reductions.
The deal adds to momentum for UK mobility startups targeting industrial automation, and will be watched for evidence that these systems deliver measurable productivity and safety improvements at scale across European and Middle Eastern sites.
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