From CNBC via NBC-San Diego, October 25:
- Alphabet-owned driverless vehicle unit Waymo just closed a $5.6 billion funding round to expand its robotaxi service across the U.S.
- CFO Ruth Porat had announced in July that the Google parent would commit up to $5 billion in a multiyear investment to Waymo.
- Waymo co-CEOs Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov said they would use the funding to expand and "continue advancing" their technology.
Waymo has closed a $5.6 billion funding round to expand its robotaxi service in and beyond Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix, where it operates today.
The autonomous vehicle venture is owned by Google parent Alphabet, which led the series C investment in Waymo, alongside earlier backers including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Fidelity, Perry Creek, Silver Lake, Tiger Global and T. Rowe Price.
In a statement to CNBC, Waymo co-CEOs Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov said the funding would go toward expansion and advancing the Waymo Driver for business applications.
"With this latest investment, we will continue to welcome more riders into our Waymo One ride-hailing service in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles, and in Austin and Atlanta through our expanded partnership with Uber," they wrote.
The series C funding brings Waymo's total capital raised to $11.1 billion after it raised $3.2 billion and $2.5 billion in two earlier rounds. Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat announced in July that the parent company would commit to a multiyear investment of up to $5 billion in Waymo....
....MUCH MORE
