Here are venture capital and corporate-venture firms that are especially active in (or known for) investing in autonomous-vehicle (AV) and mobility startups. For each I note why they matter and one or two representative AV portfolio names. I focused on firms with repeated AV / mobility investments or dedicated mobility/MaaS practices.

1. Sequoia Capital — major multi‑stage investor that has backed AV companies and platform/tooling plays (e.g., Nuro, Applied Intuition). (ellty.com)

2. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) — multi‑stage tech investor with a mobility/AI focus; has participated in funding rounds for AV tooling and software companies. (ellty.com)

3. SoftBank Vision Fund — very large checks for late‑stage mobility and robotaxi plays (Cruise, WeRide, others). (ellty.com)

4. Kleiner Perkins — long‑standing Silicon Valley VC that has participated in large rounds for AV infrastructure and tooling firms (appears in recent Applied Intuition round). (reuters.com)

5. New Enterprise Associates (NEA) — frequent investor across transportation and autonomy categories (has backed autonomous trucking and logistics startups). (reuters.com)

6. NVIDIA / NVentures — strategic/corporate VC investing in sensing, compute and autonomy startups (NVentures has co‑invested in autonomous truck and AV infrastructure deals). (reuters.com)

7. Toyota Ventures / Toyota AI Ventures (and other OEM venture arms) — OEM corporate VC teams that explicitly target autonomy, perception, supply‑chain and robotics (Toyota has repeatedly invested in AV startups including Pony.ai and Applied Intuition partnerships). (en.wikipedia.org)

8. Fontinalis Partners — mobility‑focused VC (founded by William Clay Ford Jr.) that targets transportation and mobility startups across hardware, software and services. (frequently cited in lists of mobility VCs). (ellty.com)

9. Lux Capital — invests in hard‑tech and autonomy layers (sensors, perception, robotics, autonomy stacks). (ellty.com)

10. Andreessen / Kleiner / Tiger / Tiger Global (growth VCs) — (grouped as active growth‑stage backers) — many late‑stage rounds for AV leaders have included Tiger, SoftBank, and other large growth funds. (ellty.com)

11. Corporate/strategic VCs (examples): GM Ventures / Cruise backers, Bosch, Volkswagen, Prologis strategic investors — these corporate funds often lead or co‑invest in AV, trucking and logistics autonomy startups. (reuters.com)

12. Specialized AI/mobility funds and early‑stage investors (examples): Basis Set (AI‑focused), Root Ventures, Playground / Root / Eclipse‑style deep‑tech VCs — these firms back earlier, ML/sensor and tooling startups for AV development. (en.wikipedia.org)

Notes and tips for use

• Many of the largest checks in AV are now coming from a mix of traditional VCs (Sequoia, Kleiner, a16z), growth funds (SoftBank, Tiger), and corporate strategic VCs (Toyota, NVIDIA, OEM venture arms). If you’re fundraising, target a mix: mobility‑focused investors for domain expertise and corporate VCs for strategic partnerships and validation. (reuters.com)
• If you want a tailored short list (seed vs Series A vs growth) or introductions to specific firms, tell me the startup stage, technology focus (robotaxi, trucking, perception, simulation/testing, ADAS, logistics), and preferred geography and I’ll prepare a prioritized list with recent relevant deals and contact tips.

If you want, I can also produce: (a) a ranked list of 10 VCs most active in AV in the last 18 months with citations to each deal, or (b) a customized outreach template and fundraising strategy for mobility VCs. Which would you prefer?