A few bright spots remain in the autonomous vehicle industry even amid macroeconomic headwinds that have nearly shut off the spigot of venture capital and led to further consolidation. Helm.ai, a startup developing software designed for advanced driver assistance systems, autonomous driving and robotics, is one of them. The Menlo Park, California-based startup recently raised $31 million in a Series C round led by Freeman Group, just one year after it snagged $26 million in venture funding. This latest round, which included ACVC Partners, Amplo and strategic investors Honda Motor Co., Goodyear Ventures and Sungwoo Hitech, has pushed Helm.ai's valuation to $431 million. Brandon Freeman, founder of the Freeman Group, is joining the Helm.ai board of directors as part of this financing.

Learn more about what comes next. Helm.ai, a startup creating software for autonomous vehicles, today announced that it raised $26 million in series B financing led by Amplo, JMPartners, Base Capital Funding, and Freeman Group with participation from ACVC, One Way Ventures, Binnacle Partners, and individual investors. According to CEO Vlad Voroninski, the funding will help Helm "better serve its customer base" while supporting product expansion. Self-driving technologies have captured the attention of investors during the pandemic, particularly as strains on the supply chain -- exacerbated by a driver shortage -- make apparent the usefulness of automated delivery trucks. For example, earlier this year, self-driving software startup Embark announced plans to go public in a deal that would value the company at more than $5 billion.

Four years ago, mathematician Vlad Voroninski saw an opportunity to remove some of the bottlenecks in the development of autonomous vehicle technology thanks to breakthroughs in deep learning. Now, Helm.ai, the startup he co-founded in 2016 with Tudor Achim, is coming out of stealth with an announcement that it has raised $13 million in a seed round that includes investment from A.Capital Ventures, Amplo, Binnacle Partners, Sound Ventures, Fontinalis Partners and SV Angel. More than a dozen angel investors also participated, including Berggruen Holdings founder Nicolas Berggruen, Quora co-founders Charlie Cheever and Adam D'Angelo, professional NBA player Kevin Durant, Gen. David Petraeus, Matician co-founder and CEO Navneet Dalal, Quiet Capital managing partner Lee Linden and Robinhood co-founder Vladimir Tenev, among others. Helm.ai will put the $13 million in seed funding toward advanced engineering and R&D and hiring more employees, as well as locking in and fulfilling deals with customers. Helm.ai is focused solely on the software.

Helm.ai recently announced it raised $13 million in seed funding, according to TechCrunch. The funding was provided by A.Capital Ventures, Amplo, Binnacle Partners, Sound Ventures, Fontinalis Partners, and SV Angel. And over a dozen angel investors also participated, including Berggruen Holdings founder Nicolas Berggruen, Quora co-founders Charlie Cheever and Adam D'Angelo, NBA player Kevin Durant, Gen. David Petraeus, Matician co-founder and CEO Navneet Dalal, Quiet Capital managing partner Lee Linden, and Robinhood co-founder Vlad Tenev. The company was founded by Vlad Voroninski and Tudor Achim with a goal of removing the bottlenecks involved in developing autonomous vehicle technology. Along with the funding announcement, Helm.ai also came out of stealth mode.