- Self-driving car company Waymo announced it has raised $750 million, bringing the total external fundraising to $3 billion
Waymo, the self-driving car company that spun out of Google parent Alphabet, announced it raised $750 million more as part of its first external fundraising. This means that the company has raised a total of $3 billion as part of its first external fundraising.
Waymo had originally raised $2.25 billion from Magna, AutoNation, Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and the Abu Dhabi state investment arm Mubadala.
This round of funding will be used for investing in the company’s technology, team, and Waymo One and Waymo Via operations. And Waymo’s investors now also include T. Rowe Price Associates, Perry Creek Capital, and Fidelity Management and Research Company.
“COVID-19 has underscored how fully self-driving technology can provide safe and hygienic personal mobility and delivery services. We’re grateful these partners share our mission to make it safe and easy for people and things to get where they’re going,” said Waymo CEO John Krafcik in a blog post.
Waymo grounded the company’s fleet in March in response to the shutdown orders. Testing will resume this week in Arizona. Before the pandemic, Waymo was running about 1,000 to 2,000 ride-hailing trips in Arizona per week. And 5% to 10% of those rides were without human drivers as backups.
