Robotaxi company Waymo announced on Friday it closed a $5.6 billion Series C funding round, the largest investment round the company has raised to date.
The Moutain View-based company said it plans to use the round's funds to expand its robotaxi operations in cities like Austin and Atlanta and support services in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.
"As our Waymo One ridership grows, we remain focused on expanding the safety and mobility benefits of the Waymo Driver to more places while enhancing our operational capabilities," Waymo said in a news release. "To this end, we recently introduced the 6th-generation Waymo Driver, optimized for cost and enhanced capabilities."
The round is Waymo's second external fundraising round since a $2.25 billion Series B in 2020, which grew to $3.2 billion. At the time of that round, the company was focused on further developing its autonomous trucking efforts, which it has since pulled back from.
Since then, the company has been focused on its Robotaxi ride-share service. It provides more than 100,000 paid rides a week across its three major markets—San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix—and operates on highways in the Bay Area and Arizona.
The company's driverless fleet has driven upwards of 25 million miles to date.
Waymo plans to launch robotaxi operations in Atlanta and Austin in 2025, where its vehicles will be exclusively offered through the Uber app.
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The Series C round was led by parent company Alphabet with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Silver Lake, Fidelity, Tiger Global, Perry Creek and T. Rowe Price. The round comes after Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat said the tech giant would invest $5 billion.
The round brings Waymo's total capital raised to $11.1 billion, following a $3 billion and $2.5 billion round.
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"Customers love Waymo. The company has built the safest product in the autonomous vehicle ecosystem as well as the best," said Chase Coleman, founder of Tiger Global, in a news release. "Their proven experience fostering rider loyalty, securing key partnerships, and collaborating with automotive industry leaders demonstrates their ability to balance ambitious goals with responsible execution, positioning them as the enduring leader in the space."
Despite its success in the industry ecosystem, Waymo could be a money-loser for Alphabet. According to second-quarter filings from Alphabet, "other bets" from the company brought in $365 million, up from $285 million in Q2 2023. However, the division, which includes Waymo, lost over $1 billion in operating income, an over $810 increased loss in 2023.
Alphabet is expected to report its third-quarter earnings on Oct 29.
