Investment is part of a funding round announced in January 2021, which takes the total capital to $2.75bn

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Retailing giant Walmart invests in self-driving car start-up Cruise. (Credit: Cruise LLC)

US-based Cruise has secured investments of nearly $750m from retailing giant Walmart and certain institutional investors as part of a previously announced funding round.

In January 2021, the US-based self-driving car start-up, in the same funding round, had raised over $2bn from Microsoft, Honda, General Motors (GM), and other institutional investors.

The self-driving car maker is now valued at more than $30bn.

In May 2019, the company raised $1.15bn in a funding round that saw participation from a consortium of institutional investors, and existing partners General Motors, SoftBank Vision Fund, and Honda.

Cruise CEO Dan Ammann said: “Self-driving cars will make transportation safer, cleaner and more accessible for everyone. Making this happen requires a clear mission, world-class talent, great partners and a lot of capital.”

According to Walmart U.S. president and CEO John Furner, the company’s investment in Cruise will help its work towards developing a last-mile delivery ecosystem that is fast, and at the same time low-cost and scalable.

Furner said: “This investment is a marker for us – it shows our commitment to bringing the benefit of self-driving cars to our customers and business.

“We’re excited to join Cruise’s already impressive partner and investor ecosystem with the likes of GM, Honda and Microsoft as we work toward pioneering this emerging technology.”

Walmart and the self-driving car start-up had started working together in November 2020 for developing a delivery pilot in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The pilot will enable customers to order from their local store and have a contact-free delivery through one of Cruise’s all-electric self-driving cars.

Recently, the autonomous vehicle company signed an agreement with Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) under which the former will operate self-driving taxis and also ride-hailing services in the emirate.

Last month, Cruise acquired rival autonomous vehicle start-up Voyage, a spin-out of US educational organisation Udacity.