Waymo raises $2.5 billion in second external funding round

Waymo just announced a second external funding round, raising $2.5 billion for the continued advancement of its autonomous driving technology.

According to investor website PitchBook, the company is valued at just over $30 billion, though that figure does not include this most recent funding round. (A spokesperson didn’t respond to a request seeking clarification.) For years, the company has relied almost exclusively on the largesse of its corporate parent, Alphabet. Then, in March 2020, it announced its first external funding round of $2.5 billion, a figure that grew to $3.2 billion a few months later with the addition of some investors.

The same groups that participated in Waymo’s first external investment are back for this second round, including Waymo’s parent company Alphabet, Andreessen Horowitz, AutoNation, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Mubadala Investment Company, Perry Creek Capital, Fidelity Management and Research Company, Magna International, Silver Lake, Temasek, and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates. The one new participant was Tiger Global.

Waymo says the money will help further its mission to bring its autonomous ride-hailing service to more markets. Currently, the company’s robotaxis are only available in to the public in Arizona in an approximately 100-square-mile service area that includes the towns Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, and Tempe. Waymo also allows riders to take trips in its fully driverless vehicles without a safety driver in the front seat — though the service area for those vehicles is only about 50 square miles.

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