$2.5 billion for Waymo
Emailed on March 6th 2020 in The Friday Forward
Waymo said it has raised $2.25 billion in new funding — adding its first non-Alphabet investors — and said it will likely bring in other first-round investors as its self-driving technology moves closer to commercialization.
It's a strong signal that these investors believe Waymo — the self-driving tech startup from Google parent Alphabet — is leading the race to bring automated vehicles to market. But it's also a reminder that the technology is incredibly expensive, and eventually, parent company Alphabet expects Waymo to stand on its own.
Silver Lake, CPPIB, and Mubadala Investment Co. co-led, and were joined by Alphabet, Andreessen Horowitz, AutoNation, and Magna International. Notably absent were any automakers (at least so far, as Waymo positioned this as a first close).