Illustrative image: a taxi in Osaka, Japan. Newmo has published no freely reusable photograph of its autonomous test vehicles, so this image shows an ordinary Osaka taxi, not a Newmo vehicle. Image: Jr223, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
TL;DR: Newmo $135 million Series B explained: the Tokyo startup that already runs about 1,900 taxis across Japan has raised $135 million, led by telecom giant KDDI, to put driverless taxis on the roads of Osaka by 2028. It is Japan's answer to a taxi-driver shortage — and a race against Toyota and Waymo, who plan to start a year earlier.
Key Highlights
- Newmo, a Tokyo mobility startup founded in January 2024, has raised $135 million (about ₹11,900 crore) in a Series B round led by Japanese telecom giant KDDI, Dealroom reported on 9 November 2026. Total funding now stands at $313.1 million.
- New investors in the round include DG Daiwa Ventures, which announced its participation on 9 November, and Global Brain, which made a follow-on investment through its Flagship Fund IX.
- The funding builds on a capital and business alliance KDDI and Newmo signed on 6 November: KDDI supplies the telecom lines, AI computing infrastructure, remote monitoring and high-precision positioning the service needs.
- Newmo has been running autonomous taxi trials in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, since April 2026. It targets a limited-area commercial service there in 2028, starting with a safety driver on board, and a 1,000-vehicle autonomous fleet in the longer term.
- The bet behind the money: Japan's corporate taxi drivers fell about 14.2% in five years, and the government has set a target of 10,000 autonomous-service vehicles on Japanese roads by fiscal 2030.
What happened?
On 9 November 2026, Dealroom reported that Newmo had pulled in a $135 million Series B funding round led by KDDI, taking the two-year-old startup's total disclosed funding to $313.1 million. The same day, DG Daiwa Ventures (DGDV) confirmed in a Japanese press release that it had joined the round as a growth-stage investment, and Global Brain announced a follow-on investment in the company.
The raise came three days after KDDI and Newmo announced a capital and business alliance on 6 November, under which KDDI will invest in Newmo by subscribing to a third-party allotment of new shares and supply the infrastructure a driverless taxi service runs on. KDDI's investment amount and shareholding were not disclosed, and neither was a post-money valuation for the Series B — Dealroom's company profile lists a valuation range of $500 million to $1 billion, last recorded in 2025.
For a company founded only in January 2024, the pace is remarkable. Newmo has grown by buying up taxi operators — nine companies so far — and now runs about 1,900 taxis across six regions of Japan, with more than 2,800 employees. Its stated goal is a 10,000-vehicle fleet built through further regional expansion and acquisitions, with autonomous taxis layered on top of that operating base.
Newmo $135 million Series B explained: the funding in numbers
| Figure | Detail |
|---|---|
| Series B round | $135 million (about ₹11,900 crore at roughly ₹88 to the dollar), reported 9 November 2026 |
| Lead investor | KDDI, Japan's second-largest telecom operator |
| New investors | DG Daiwa Ventures; Global Brain (follow-on, Flagship Fund IX) |
| Total funding to date | $313.1 million (about ₹27,600 crore, approximate) |
| Earlier rounds | Seed of about ¥2 billion; Series A of about ¥16.7 billion (around $129 million) in November 2024; $9.2 million further financing in July 2025 |
| Valuation | Not disclosed for this round; Dealroom's profile range is $500 million–$1 billion, last recorded in 2025 |
| Fleet today | About 1,900 taxis, nine group companies, six regions, 2,800+ employees |
| Autonomous target | Limited-area commercial service in Sakai City, Osaka, in 2028; 1,000-vehicle autonomous fleet longer term |
The funding table tells the story in miniature: this is not a startup that sells a vision and then looks for customers. Newmo already operates the taxis, employs the drivers and runs the dispatch app. The Series B money is for turning that operating base into a test bed — and then a launchpad — for self-driving technology it is building itself.
What is Newmo?
Newmo Inc. was founded on 4 January 2024 in Tokyo by Naoki Aoyagi, who previously headed the Japan business of Mercari, the online marketplace. Its model is unusual for an autonomous-driving startup: instead of starting with the technology and hunting for a fleet to test it on, it started by buying taxi companies.
The roll-up strategy has a clear logic. Every taxi Newmo operates collects driving data from real Japanese roads every day, and every depot and driver gives it a place to test vehicles in real conditions. That is the data and the operating platform its autonomous-driving AI is trained on. The company is also building its own autonomous-driving AI foundation model for Japan's specific traffic environment, and it was selected for the fourth phase of GENIAC, the generative-AI development support programme run by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and NEDO.
On the technology side, Newmo works with TIER IV, the Japanese open-source autonomous-driving software company, on developing and commercialising its robotaxi service. Its own team is building the ride-hailing app, the dispatch and fleet-management systems, the remote-monitoring operation and the driving-data pipeline — the full stack, in-house.
Illustrative image: the roof-mounted sensor unit of a self-driving car. Newmo's own test vehicles look different — this photo shows the kind of hardware autonomous taxis rely on. Image: Retired electrician, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
Why KDDI is more than a cheque
The most important part of this story may not be the $135 million at all — it is who led it, and what else they are bringing. Under the alliance announced on 6 November, KDDI will provide the telecom lines linking vehicles to remote-monitoring centres, the AI computing infrastructure used to train Newmo's driving models, remote-monitoring technology and high-precision positioning. KDDI Smart Mobility, the telecom group's mobility arm, joins as a third partner alongside KDDI and Newmo.
That matters because a driverless taxi is, in practice, a connected device. The car needs a constant, low-latency link to a centre where a human can watch and intervene; it needs positioning precise enough to know which lane it is in; and its driving model needs enormous computing power to train. A telecom operator that also owns data centres can supply all three — which is why KDDI's involvement goes well beyond writing a cheque.
The alliance also points to the longer game. The three companies say they will consider offering the dispatch, fleet-management and remote-monitoring functions validated in Sakai to regional transport operators across Japan — turning Newmo's operating system into a product other taxi companies can buy. In a country where rural bus routes are being cut and taxi firms are short of drivers, that is a large potential market.
Why Japan needs driverless taxis
Japan's taxi industry has a problem that money alone cannot fix: there are not enough drivers. The number of corporate taxi drivers in Japan fell about 14.2% over five years, according to transport ministry data cited by DGDV, and the workforce keeps ageing. Rural areas feel it first, but cities are not immune — and the 2025 World Expo in Osaka put the shortage in the spotlight.
The government has responded with a target. The third Basic Plan on Transport Policy, approved by cabinet on 16 January 2026, sets a goal of 10,000 autonomous-service vehicles on Japanese roads by fiscal 2030. That policy tailwind is a big part of why investors are willing to fund a company whose commercial service is still two years away: the state has publicly committed to making the market exist.
Newmo's timing also fits a wider pattern in this funding cycle. Investors have been pouring money into companies that pair AI with physical infrastructure — Onodrim's $300 million Series A for buying Europe's defence factories, Mavria's $130 million raise for factory-built AI data centres and Nominal's $240 million Series C for hardware-testing intelligence all landed within days of each other. Newmo is the mobility entry in the same bet: AI that does physical work in the real world.
The road to 2028 — and the competition
Newmo's plan runs on a clear timeline. Trials have been running in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, since April 2026, and the company signed a cooperation agreement with Osaka City on 8 April 2026 covering tests in the Maishima area. The commercial launch is targeted at a limited area of Sakai in 2028, initially with a safety driver on board, before moving toward fully driverless operation. No date has been given for when the safety driver leaves the vehicle.
The honest caveat is that 2028 is a target, not a guarantee. Commercialisation remains a goal, not a proven business: regulatory approval, safe operation at scale and viable economics are all still hurdles, as Dealroom itself notes. The company must also prove that a service built for a limited area of one city can expand — first across Osaka, then to the regional operators it hopes to sell its operating system to.
And it is not running unopposed. Toyota and Waymo announced on 30 October 2026 that they will begin initial driverless taxi operations in Japan from 2027, using Toyota bZ4X electric vehicles fitted with Waymo's self-driving system and built at Toyota's Takaoka plant. That puts the world's most experienced robotaxi operator on Newmo's home turf a full year before Newmo's own launch — with a domestic manufacturing partner attached. Newmo's answer is that it owns the taxi operation, the data and the local relationships, while Waymo must build those from scratch in Japan. The next two years will test which advantage matters more.
Why it matters for India readers
India's taxi market looks nothing like Japan's — it is younger, larger and dominated by app-based aggregators — but the underlying problem rhymes. Indian cities face driver shortages at peak hours, and the economics of ride-hailing are squeezed by driver earnings on one side and fares on the other. What Japan is doing is worth watching because it is the first large-scale test of whether a taxi company can become a self-driving company, rather than a technology company trying to become a taxi company.
There is a second India angle: the telecom-operator-as-mobility-partner model. India's large telecom operators own the connectivity, the data centres and the billing relationships that a driverless fleet would need — the same ingredients KDDI is bringing to Newmo. If the KDDI–Newmo alliance works, expect Indian telecom and mobility players to study it closely. And for Indian readers following the funding cycle, the $135 million is a useful yardstick: it is almost exactly the same size as Mavria's $130 million raise last week, and far smaller than the $240 million Nominal raised at a $3 billion valuation — a reminder that in this market, the size of the round says less than what the money is for.
Should you care?
✅ Verdict: worth watching, not worth betting on yet. Newmo is one of the best-funded and most operationally grounded robotaxi bets outside the US and China — a real fleet, a real telecom partner and a government target behind it. But the service is two years away, starts with a safety driver, and faces Waymo in 2027. Follow the Sakai trials; judge it when paying passengers ride without a driver.
FAQs
How much did Newmo raise in its Series B?
Newmo raised $135 million (about ₹11,900 crore) in a Series B round led by KDDI, Dealroom reported on 9 November 2026. The round takes the company's total funding to $313.1 million. New investors included DG Daiwa Ventures, and Global Brain made a follow-on investment.
When will Newmo launch driverless taxis in Osaka?
Newmo targets a limited-area commercial service in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, in 2028. The first service will run with a safety driver on board, and the company has not said when fully driverless operation will begin. Trials have been running in Sakai since April 2026.
Who led Newmo's Series B funding round?
KDDI, Japan's second-largest telecom operator, led the round. The funding builds on a capital and business alliance signed on 6 November 2026, under which KDDI also supplies telecom lines, AI computing infrastructure, remote monitoring and high-precision positioning. KDDI's own investment amount was not disclosed.
What does Newmo do?
Newmo is a Tokyo mobility startup founded in January 2024 by Naoki Aoyagi, former head of Mercari Japan. It operates about 1,900 taxis across six regions of Japan through nine acquired taxi companies, and it is building its own autonomous-driving technology to run driverless taxis on that operating base.
Takeaway
Newmo's $135 million Series B is a bet that the company best placed to run driverless taxis in Japan is the one that already runs taxis. With KDDI's network and computing behind it, a government target in front of it and trials already running in Osaka, the pieces are in place. The hard part — paying passengers, no driver, at scale — is still two years away, and Waymo gets there first. The Sakai trials will tell us whether the bet pays off.
For the latest on the funding and the trials, keep an eye on Newmo's own site at newmo.me and KDDI's announcements — and read our explainers on Onodrim's $300 million Series A and Nominal's $240 million Series C for the wider funding picture.
Sources
- DG Daiwa Ventures (PR Times) — "DGDV joins newmo's Series B round" (9 November 2026, in Japanese)
- Dealroom — "Newmo pulls in $135M Series B as it chases driverless taxis by 2028" (9 November 2026)
- Global Brain — "Follow-on investment in newmo, Inc." (9 November 2026)
- Telecompaper — "KDDI and newmo partner to target autonomous taxi launch in Osaka by 2028" (9 November 2026)
- PakTechStan — "Japan's Newmo Raises $135 Million to Launch Driverless Taxis in Osaka by 2028" (9 November 2026)
- Dealroom — Newmo company profile (founding, funding history, TIER IV partnership)
- Nippon.com (Jiji Press) — "Toyota, Waymo to Start Driverless Taxi Operations in Japan" (30 October 2026)
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