Alphabet Self-Driving Subsidiary Waymo Raises $2.25B In First External Funding

Alphabet Inc. GOOGL GOOG subsidiary Waymo has raised $2.25 billion in its first external investment round, it announced Monday.

What Happened

The startup developing self-driving technology said that the funding round was led by Silver Lake, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Mubadala Investment Company.

Other participants included Magna International MGA, Andreessen Horowitz, and AutoNation Inc. AN. Parent company Alphabet also participated in the round, Waymo said.

AutoNation told Reuters it contributed $50 million to the funding round. The breakdown of the rest of the investment couldn't be immediately ascertained.

With this injection of capital and business acumen, alongside Alphabet, we'll deepen our investment in our people, our technology, and our operations, all in support of the deployment of the Waymo Driver around the world," Waymo CEO John Krafcik said in a statement.

Why It Matters

The Google shoot-off that later became a stand-alone business under Alphabet has been aggressively expanding for over a year.

Waymo started pulling safety drivers out of its self-driving ridesharing service Waymo One in Arizona last October. With its new Waymo Via service, the Tesla Inc. competitor intends to capture the goods delivery sector.

The California-based company has announced a host of partnerships over the last year as well, including with ride-hailing company LYFT Inc. NYFT and goods delivery firm United Parcel Service Inc. UPS.

Waymo also partnered with the alliance of Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. NSANY, Mitsubishi Corp. MSBHY, and Renault S.A. RNSDF in Japan and France.

Price Action

Alphabet's Class A shares closed 3.51% higher at $1,386.32 on Monday and traded slightly lower at $1,383.99 in the after-hours session.

Alphabet's Class C shares closed 3.72% higher at $1,389.11 and traded another 0.2% higher in the after-hours session at $1,392.15.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Waymo.