Google's Sibling Waymo Raises $2.5 billion Funding

Waymo, the autonomous driving subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet, has raised another very healthy chunk of funding to fuel its operations going forward.

The company said in a blog post it will use the funds to continue growing Waymo Driver, its autonomous driving platform, and growing its team.

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Waymo announced that it has raised a $2.5 billion investment round on Wednesday from a variety of investors including Alphabet itself, Andreessen Horowitz, AutoNation, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Silver Lake, and many others.

The funding for the self-driving affiliate of Google parent Alphabet Inc. comes amid a period of heightened interest and competition in the auto industry. Several electric-vehicle upstarts, inspired by Tesla Inc.’s surging valuation, have turned to the public markets for additional funding.

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Waymo, which was formed in 2009 as a project within Alphabet's Google unit, is widely considered the leader in developing self-driving technology. According to the investor website PitchBook, the company is valued at just over $30 billion.

Its autonomous ride-hailing service, Waymo One, has had thousands of trips in metro Phoenix where some customers are shuttled around in minivans without a person behind the wheel, Waymo said. The company is also testing vehicles in San Francisco.

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The latest funding round comes after Waymo previously raised $2.25 billion in its first external funding round in March 2020.

This new investment will be useful as Waymo had shut down all its ride-hailing services in early 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic, but began offering rides again as of 8 October 2020.