Oct 25, 2024 - Business

Alphabet leads Waymo's $5.6 billion Series C

Lucinda Shen

Illustration of traffic light with a green way light — Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

Antitrust scrutiny isn't slowing Alphabet down. The search giant led a $5.6 billion Series C in self-driving car company Waymo announced on Friday, with a16z, Fidelity, Perry Creek, Silver Lake, Tiger Global, and T. Rowe Price also participating.

Why it matters: This is Waymo's largest ever round, and it ranks among the largest VC rounds ever.

Zoom out: This all comes as the DOJ is weighing potential sanctions against Google, and is considering suggestions of breaking up the business. Meanwhile, the U.K.'s competition watchdog is examining the company's partnership and investment in AI company Anthropic.

Alphabet first revealed its participation in July, saying it would commit up to $5 billion over multiple years.

Context: OpenAI's $6.6 billion round earlier this month is regarded as the largest VC round.

The bottom line: "Waymo is the clear robotaxi leader, as Tesla struggles to deliver on its self-driving promise and General Motors' Cruise claws its way back from a safety disaster in San Francisco. Alphabet's decision to pump more money into its self-driving unit shows it believes autonomous vehicles can one day become a viable, profitable business," — Joann Muller, Axios

This story has been updated to note that Alphabet first disclosed its investment in July.

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Alphabet leads Waymo's $5.6 billion Series C

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