Wayve has unveiled an $85m employee share sale through the London Stock Exchange’s new private markets platform, marking a landmark moment for the City’s push to retain major tech firms.
The British autonomous driving unicorn will use the London Stock Exchange’s Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System, known as Pisces, to allow staff to sell part of their vested equity to approved investors.
The transaction values Wayve at $8.6bn and represents the first high-profile use of the platform by a significant UK technology company since its launch.
Wayve stressed the deal is an employee liquidity event rather than an investor sell-off, with staff selling existing shares rather than the company raising fresh capital.
Chief executive Alex Kendall said the $85m deal reflected the company’s commitment to “retain and reward the best talent in our industry”, adding on X: “This is the second time Wayve has done this.”
IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp described the move as “ideal news for the fledgling private market”, saying the confidence shown by an AI company to test the platform was “a big boost.”
Beauchamp noted the announcement was particularly timely, coming “in a week when fresh doubts about the long-term future of London’s FTSE have reared their head.”
LSEG chief executive Dame Julia Hoggett said the auction demonstrated the “growing momentum” behind the market, adding it showed how Pisces could help companies deliver liquidity for employees while supporting growth.
PitchBook senior analyst Navina Rajan told City AM that secondary share sales were rapidly becoming “a core feature of the late-stage venture market rather than an exception” as companies seek to retain top talent without pursuing an IPO.
Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, called the transaction “a test of investor demand for autonomous driving and to see if the London Stock Exchange’s new private markets platform is fit for purpose.”
Coatsworth added that a successful auction could encourage more high-growth tech giants to use the market ahead of a future flotation, giving Pisces significant momentum going forward.
The share sale follows Wayve’s $1.2bn Series D funding round earlier this year, with the company also recently securing a further $60m investment from AMD, Arm and Qualcomm.
Wayve has doubled its workforce to around 1,200 over the past year as it shifts from years of research into active commercial deployment, including planned robotaxi launches in London.
The company licenses its AI driving software to carmakers including Nissan and Stellantis, with commercial robotaxi services expected to begin in London before broader deployment in consumer vehicles.
Wayve counts blue-chip backers including Microsoft, Nvidia and Uber among its investors, making it exactly the type of British AI champion ministers had hoped would embrace the Pisces platform.