March 12 (Reuters) - U.S.-based vehicle software

supplier Applied Intuition has raised $250 million in its latest

Series E funding round, valuing it at $6 billion, the company

said in a statement on Tuesday.

The financing was led by Lux Capital, Elad Gil, and Porsche

Investments Management, the sports car manufacturer's

subsidiary, the company said. This marks a jump in valuation

from Applied Intuition's last round at $3.6 billion in late

2021.

The company said it aims to use the funding to make

investments in generative artificial intelligence by investing

in synthetic data and computers to develop AI models across

products. The investment from Porsche is also the first time the

startup received funding from carmakers as it works with a wide

range of original equipment manufacturers.

"We want to further strengthen Porsche's expertise in

the field of software and customer experience," Lutz Meschke,

Porsche AG's chief financial officer said in a

statement.

Founded in 2017, Mountain View, California-based Applied

Intuition sells software tools to build autonomous systems for

vehicles. The company has been cash flow positive for years and

will have about $1 billion to invest following the fundraising,

according to Qasar Younis, chief executive at Applied Intuition.

"We're going to work on even bigger projects together

with our partners, because this shows we have the foundational

strength to handle more long-term and strategic projects,"

Younis said.

The company serves vehicle makers including Toyota Motor ( TM )

, Nissan ( NSANF ), and LG Electronics among

others, who use its tools for the development of various

software systems across passenger cars, construction and mining

vehicles.

It sells to the U.S. government to power autonomous

systems in defense, a growing sector that accounts for less than

half of the company's revenue, Peter Ludwig, its chief

technology officer said.