Vay is a Berlin-based deep technology company that is on track to launch the first driverless, safety-certified, commercial fleet on European public streets. Starting next year. Unique about Vay is its teledrive-first approach to autonomous driving.
Vay’s fleet of vehicles is already operating with safety drivers across all of Berlin today. Recent technological and regulatory advancements will allow Vay to remove the safety driver from its vehicles next year.
Thomas von der Ohe, Fabrizio Scelsi, and Bogdan Djukic founded Vay in September 2018. Their team combines the best of two worlds - software and product experience from Silicon Valley and automotive hardware & safety engineering from Europe. Vay’s team members have previously worked at companies such as Tesla, Google, Waymo, Zoox, Byton, Argo, Amazon, Uber as well as Audi, BMW, and Daimler, and have founded various companies before.
Vay has raised over 30m USD in Series A funding from leading European VCs such as Atomico, Creandum, LaFamiglia, System.One, Visionaries Club, Signals as well as business angels Patrick Pichette (Partner at Inovia Capital, chairman of the board at Twitter, former global CFO at Google), Cristina Stenbeck (Board member of Spotify, chairman of the board at Zalando), Qasar Younis (co-founder and CEO of Applied Intuition, former COO and Partner of Y Combinator), and Formula 1 champion Nico Rosberg. The company has offices in Berlin, Germany, and Portland.
Vay’s fleet of vehicles is already operating with safety drivers across all of Berlin today. Recent technological and regulatory advancements will allow Vay to remove the safety driver from its vehicles next year.
Thomas von der Ohe, Fabrizio Scelsi, and Bogdan Djukic founded Vay in September 2018. Their team combines the best of two worlds - software and product experience from Silicon Valley and automotive hardware & safety engineering from Europe. Vay’s team members have previously worked at companies such as Tesla, Google, Waymo, Zoox, Byton, Argo, Amazon, Uber as well as Audi, BMW, and Daimler, and have founded various companies before.
Vay has raised over 30m USD in Series A funding from leading European VCs such as Atomico, Creandum, LaFamiglia, System.One, Visionaries Club, Signals as well as business angels Patrick Pichette (Partner at Inovia Capital, chairman of the board at Twitter, former global CFO at Google), Cristina Stenbeck (Board member of Spotify, chairman of the board at Zalando), Qasar Younis (co-founder and CEO of Applied Intuition, former COO and Partner of Y Combinator), and Formula 1 champion Nico Rosberg. The company has offices in Berlin, Germany, and Portland.
Location: Germany
Employees: 51-200
Total raised: $563.88M
Founded date: 2018
Investors 4
| Date | Name | Website |
| 09.09.2021 | Signals Ve... | signals.vc |
| 09.02.2021 | Creandum | creandum.c... |
| 15.09.2021 | Atomico | atomico.co... |
| 05.02.2022 | Kinnevik | kinnevik.c... |
Funding Rounds 3
| Date | Series | Amount | Investors |
| 15.11.2025 | Series C | $116.95M | - |
| 14.11.2025 | - | $410M | - |
| 17.10.2024 | - | $36.94M | - |
Mentions in press and media 25
| Date | Title | Description |
| 18.06.2026 | Transportation: 10 companies that raised the most in 2025 | European transportation companies attracted significant investment in 2025 as investors backed technologies reshaping how people and goods move. Funding was concentrated around electrification, autonomous systems, logistics infrastructure, ... |
| 18.11.2025 | FMC Secures $107M to Revolutionize AI Memory Chips | Dresden-based FMC raises $107M to advance its innovative memory chip technology. The funding aims to reduce AI data center energy consumption and challenge global memory chip dominance. FMC's DRAM+ and 3D CACHE+ chips promise faster, more e... |
| 15.11.2025 | +++ FMC +++ Vay +++ Reflex Aerospace +++ octonomy +++ Mimic +++ Cleverciti Systems +++ Libra +++ | Was gibt’s Neues? In unserem #StartupTicker-Wochenrückblick liefern wir einen schnellen Überblick darüber, was in der deutschsprachigen Startup-Szene zuletzt wirklich wichtig war! #StartupTicker – Was zuletzt wirklich wichtig war! STARTUP-R... |
| 14.11.2025 | +++ Monkee +++ Vay +++ MOTOR Ai +++ Langdock +++ Neura Robotics +++ | Was gibt’s Neues? In unserem #StartupTicker liefern wir eine kompakte Übersicht über die wichtigsten Startup-Nachrichten des Tages (Freitag, 14. November). #STARTUPLAND: SAVE THE DATE The next unicorn? You’ll meet it at STARUPLAND +++ Du ha... |
| 14.11.2025 | Zilch nets $175M, Backed VC closes $100M Fund III, and nd Ukraine’s LIFT99 emerges even stronger after a missile attack | This week, we tracked more than 60 tech funding deals worth over €736 million and over 10 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe. In addition to this week's top financials, we've also indexed the most i... |
| 13.11.2025 | Deals in brief: Grab invests USD 60 million in Vay, Transcelestial secures new funding, Bioactivx closes seed round, and more | Grab invests USD 60 million in remote driving technology firm Vay Grab has signed definitive agreements to invest USD 60 million in Germany-based Vay Technology, a developer of remote driving systems. The transaction, expected to close in t... |
| 12.11.2025 | European Investment Landscape Shifts: Armira's Billion-Euro Fund, Gaming Losses, Sports Tech Growth | European investment dynamics are rapidly transforming. Private equity firm Armira secures €1 billion for its latest fund, boosting total capital under management to €5 billion, targeting growth in "hidden champion" businesses. Mea... |
| 12.11.2025 | Grab Fuels Remote Driving Future With Vay Investment | Grab is investing $60 million in remote driving innovator Vay Technology. This strategic move positions Grab at the forefront of future hybrid mobility. Vay's teledriving delivers electric vehicles directly to customers. Grab envisions a mo... |
| 12.11.2025 | +++ Klang Games +++ FC Viktoria Berlin +++ Baobab +++ Armira +++ Munich Re Ventures +++ | Was gibt’s Neues? In unserem #StartupTicker liefern wir eine kompakte Übersicht über die wichtigsten Startup-Nachrichten des Tages (Mittwoch, 12. November). #STARTUPLAND: SAVE THE DATE The next unicorn? You’ll meet it at STARTUPLAND +++ Du ... |
| 11.11.2025 | Uber-Konkurrent Grab investiert bis zu 410 Millionen in Vay | Im #DealMonitor für den 5. November werfen wir einen Blick auf die wichtigsten, spannendsten und interessantesten Investments und Exits des Tages in der DACH-Region. Alle Deals der Vortage gibt es im großen und übersichtlichen #DealMonitor-... |
Show more