About
Raquel Urtasun founded Waabi in 2021 to build self-driving trucks with a single end-to-end model and a closed-loop simulator instead of the hand-engineered stacks the industry had spent a decade on — raising one of Canada's largest Series A rounds, then up to $1 billion in January 2026 at a reported $3 billion valuation, alongside a deal to put 25,000 robotaxis on Uber's platform. Born in Pamplona with an EPFL doctorate, she was a professor at Toronto and TTI-Chicago, co-founded the Vector Institute with Geoffrey Hinton, and served as Chief Scientist of Uber ATG. Waabi runs commercial freight in Texas with safety drivers and targets fully driverless operation across the Southwest.
Beyond investing
- Founded
- Founded Waabi in June 2021; its $83.5M Series A drew personal investment from Geoffrey Hinton, Fei-Fei Li, Pieter Abbeel, and Sanja Fidler. Co-founded Toronto's Vector Institute for AI with Geoffrey Hinton in 2017. Urtasun founded Waabi, a Toronto-based company developing autonomous vehicle technology using generative AI, in 2021. Urtasun co-founded the Vector Institute, a Toronto-based AI research institute, with Geoffrey Hinton in 2017.
- Education
- Born in Pamplona, Spain in 1976; took a telecommunications engineering degree at the Public University of Navarre and a computer science PhD at EPFL, then postdocs at MIT and Berkeley. Studied at Universidad Publica de Navarra (Bachelor's, Telecommunication Engineering, 2000) Studied at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Ph.D., Computer Science, 2006)
- Communities
- Urtasun served as Program Chair of CVPR 2018 and is an editor of the International Journal of Computer Vision.
- Awards
- Named to TIME's 100 Most Influential People in AI (2023) and Fast Company's AI 20 (2025). Appointed to the Order of Ontario and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2024, and a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2026. Urtasun received an NSERC E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship. Urtasun received an NVIDIA Pioneers of AI Award. Urtasun received a Ministry of Education and Innovation Early Researcher Award. Urtasun received Faculty Research Awards from Amazon and from Google (the latter three times). Urtasun was selected as one of the Chatelaine Women of the Year 2018. In 2023, Urtasun was named to Time magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential People in AI. In 2024, Urtasun was appointed to the Order of Ontario. Urtasun was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Urtasun was named to CNBC's 2024 Changemakers list of women transforming business. Urtasun was a Fast Company AI 20 honoree for 2025.
- Family
- Urtasun was born and raised in Pamplona, Spain.
Mentioned above: the Uber mafia → · the EPFL mafia →
From Raquel's own website — common ground for a warm intro.
Founder & CEO at Waabi
Intro paths
→
In turn, Raquel can intro founders to Waabi's investors below.
Waabi's investors · 11
8VCAustin · $100K – $50M checksG2 Venture PartnersPortola Valley · $15M – $25M checks · since 2026Golden VenturesToronto · $500K – $2.5M checksIngka InvestmentsLeidenKhosla VenturesMenlo Park · $5K – $50M checks · since 2026Linse CapitalSan JuanNVenturesSingapore · $25K – $2.5M checksOMERS VenturesToronto · $5M – $25M checksRadical VenturesToronto · $1M – $25M checksRaptor GroupMiami BeachVolvo Group Venture Capital ABGothenburg · $1.1M – $10.8M checks
Experience
- WaabiFounder & CEOcurrent2021 — presentToronto, Ontario, Canada
- University of TorontoFull Professorcurrent2020 — present
- University of TorontoAssociate Professor2016 — 2020Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- University of TorontoAssistant Professor2014 — 2016Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- UberChief Scientist, Head of Uber ATG R&D2018 — 2021Toronto, Canada Area
- UberHead of Uber ATG Toronto2017 — 2018
- Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago (TTIC)Assistant Professor2009 — 2013
- University of California, BerkeleyPostdoctoral Researcher2008 — 2009
- Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyPostdoctoral Researcher2006 — 2008
- EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne)Graduate Student2000 — 2006
Education
- EPFLDoctor of Philosophy - PhD, Computer Science2000 — 2006
Skills & more
Machine Learning9Algorithms4Autonomous Vehicles8Computer Vision6Artificial Intelligence (AI)3
From Raquel's professional profile.
Podcasts & interviews
featuring Raquel UrtasunFrequently asked questions
- Where does Raquel Urtasun work?
- Raquel Urtasun is Founder & CEO at Waabi.
- What companies did Raquel Urtasun found?
- Raquel Urtasun founded Waabi.
Paths to reach Raquel
People who overlapped with Raquel at the same organization — a shared school or employer with one of them is a warm way in.
Together at WaabiRaquel: Founder & CEO
Kanu Gulati2021–2026Investor at Khosla VenturesDelhi College of EngineeringBrook Porter2025–2026Partner at G2 Venture PartnersColorado School of Mines · University of California, BerkeleyNeel Mehta2024–2026Partner at G2 Venture PartnersDuke UniversityAleksej Mitrjaschkin2024–2026Partner at Incharge Capital PartnersSwansea University / Prifysgol Abertawe · University of MannheimSebastian Feurig2024–2026Analyst at Incharge Capital PartnersReichman University · University of Cape TownJoseph Sunga2023–2026Investor at Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence Incubator (AI2)University of Washington
Together at UberRaquel: Head of Uber ATG Toronto
Jason Calacanis2017–2021Founder of LAUNCH; host of This Week in StartupsAndrew Chen2017–2018General Partner at Andreessen HorowitzUniversity of WashingtonGarrett Camp2017–2021Co-founder of Uber and StumbleUpon; founder of ExpaUniversity of CalgaryNic Lowden2017–2019Investor at Moonfire VenturesUniversity of CambridgeAnnie Kadavy2017–2018Venture Partner at Redpoint VenturesStanford University Graduate School of BusinessLou Segall2017–2020Director, Strategy at Sapphire VenturesMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Together at Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyRaquel: Postdoctoral Researcher
Matt Huang2006–2008Co-founder and Managing Partner at ParadigmMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyDrew Houston2006Co-founder & CEO of DropboxMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyArash Ferdowsi2006–2007Co-founder of DropboxMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyPatrick Collison2006–2008Co-founder & CEO of StripeMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyTsendai Chagwedera2007–2008Partner at EchoVC PartnersMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyNoubar Afeyan2006–2008Investor at Flagship PioneeringMcGill University
Together at University of California, BerkeleyRaquel: Postdoctoral Researcher
Ali Ghodsi2009Co-founder & CEO of DatabricksMid Sweden UniversityPaul Jenny2008Board Chair at CincyTechLoyola University New OrleansArsalan Tavakoli2008–2009Investor at Foundation CapitalUniversity of California, Berkeley · University of VirginiaFrancisco Gimenez2008–2009Investment Team at 8VCUniversity of California, BerkeleyUlili Onovakpuri2008Managing Partner at Kapor CapitalUniversity of East AngliaBen Hinshaw2009Deputy General Counsel at ParadigmUniversity of California, Berkeley · University of California, Berkeley - School of Law · University of California, College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings)
Together at University of TorontoRaquel: Assistant Professor
Together at EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne)Raquel: Graduate Student
Founder mafias
Uber mafia170
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Garrett CampFounder & ChairmanFounded Aero +1Robin ChanAdvisorFounded Operator +2Dan LifshitsEngineering ContractorFounded GO GLOBAL WORLD +1Ben LernerSoftware Engineer, InfrastructureFounded Espresso AI +1Bastien BeurierSoftware EngineerFounded Lantern +1Mike MahlkowOperations and Business DevelopmentFounded Fastgen +1
+ 163 more
EPFL mafia53
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Ravi JainInternshipFounded Genylabs +1Anna VybornovaMaster's degreeFounded Polari Group +1Toni RosinolBachelor of ScienceFounded Stack AI +1Veronica Gambillara FonckPhDFounded GlycoEraSacha LaboureyMasterFounded CLOUDBEES, INC.Moe AdhamMScFounded Bitaccess
+ 46 more
Same school
Also attended EPFL102
Bouraux LeopoldAI & Data Engineer at Newfund CapitalJan-Olivier FillolsSenior Managing Director at Marlin Equity PartnersChristoph FreiPartner, Head of Energy at Emerald Technology Ventures AgArzu TekirGeneral Partner at Treeo VCLaure BouchezExecutives in Residence at GENERAL INCEPTIONElena BattistelloAnalyst at Novartis Venture Fund
+ 96 more
Shared employers
Also worked at Waabi8
Kanu GulatiInvestor at Khosla VenturesBrook PorterPartner at G2 Venture PartnersNeel MehtaPartner at G2 Venture PartnersAleksej MitrjaschkinPartner at Incharge Capital PartnersSebastian FeurigAnalyst at Incharge Capital PartnersJoseph SungaInvestor at Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence Incubator (AI2)
+ 2 more
Also worked at University of Toronto83
AngelaGeneral Partner at Version One VenturesGraham CareyInvestment Director - Advanced Materials at Emerald Technology Ventures AgJoel DrewryPrincipal at Versant VenturesLeonid BoguslavskyPartner & Founder at RTP GlobalSteve LauPartner at Highland Creek PartnersRameez AnsariPartner at Highland Creek Partners
+ 77 more
Also worked at Uber377
Bill GurleyGeneral Partner Emeritus at BenchmarkJason CalacanisFounder of LAUNCH; host of This Week in StartupsAndrew ChenGeneral Partner at Andreessen HorowitzGarrett CampCo-founder of Uber and StumbleUpon; founder of ExpaFrédérique DameInvestor at GV (Google Ventures)Nic LowdenInvestor at Moonfire Ventures
+ 371 more
Also worked at University of California, Berkeley291
Ali GhodsiCo-founder & CEO of DatabricksPaul JennyBoard Chair at CincyTechAndrea van ElsasInvestor at Third Rock VenturesMichael PerezDeputy General Counsel at Mucker CapitalFreada Kapor KleinFounding Partner at Kapor CapitalUlili OnovakpuriManaging Partner at Kapor Capital
+ 285 more