Dive Brief:
- Robotaxi operator Waymo has closed on a $16 billion funding round, bringing its post-money valuation to $126 billion, the company announced in a blog post Monday.
- The funding round was led by Dragoneer Investment Group, DST Global and Sequoia Capital, but also included significant funding from existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Mubadala Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Silver Lake, Tiger Global and T. Rowe Price, per the release.
- The major influx of new capital comes as Waymo continues to scale its commercial autonomous ride-hailing business. The company said it tripled its annual volume to 15 million rides in 2025 and now provides 400,000 paid rides per week in six major U.S. metro areas.
Dive Insight:
Lead investor Dragoneer Investment Group is a San Francisco-based firm that specializes in growth-oriented technology across both public and private markets.
“Dragoneer partners with a small number of companies that can fundamentally transform the world through category-defining technology and products,” said Jared Middleman, partner at Dragoneer, in the release. “Waymo has not only taught a car to drive itself, but to do so meaningfully better than any human or competing system, and we believe that lead will endure.”
Waymo spun out of Google's self-driving car project in December 2016 and is widely considered to be the leading developer of autonomous driving technology with the financial backing of Google (now Alphabet Inc.) over the years. The company also maintains a strong focus on safety. To date, Waymo said its robotaxi fleet has logged over 127 million miles of fully autonomous operation and achieved a 90% reduction in serious injury crashes.
The company's autonomous driving technology stack installed on its robotaxis is called the “Waymo Driver.” The suite of hardware includes cameras, lidar, radar and an array of external audio receivers to monitor the environment and safely navigate autonomously. The system also uses highly detailed custom maps matched with real-time sensor data to determine a vehicle’s precise location at all times.
With its fresh round of funding, Waymo plans to expand its robotaxi operations in the U.S. and globally, aiming to launch in 20 more cities in 2026, including Tokyo and London, to meet what it calls “exploding global demand for autonomous mobility,” per the release. Waymo’s ride-hailing business is named “Waymo One.”
“Waymo will boost productivity and accessibility for millions while improving road safety worldwide,” said Saurabh Gupta, co-founder of DST Global, in the release.
In May of last year, Waymo announced a partnership with Tier 1 automotive supplier Magna International to jointly build robotaxis at a new 239,000-square-foot facility in the Metro Phoenix area. The Arizona facility will allow Waymo and Magna to install the company’s Waymo Driver on multiple robotaxi platforms simultaneously and at higher volumes, the company said.
Also last year, Toyota Motor Corp. announced it would collaborate with Waymo on the development of an autonomous vehicle platform, which includes exploring ways to integrate Waymo’s autonomous driving technology into personally owned Toyota vehicles in the future.
In November, Waymo hired Google executive Steve Fieler as its new CFO, effective Dec. 1, 2025. Fieler previously held the role of business finance officer for Google’s platforms and ecosystems units, and was responsible for products such as Android and the Chrome web browser.
“Steve’s extensive experience will be instrumental in guiding us through this next transformational chapter,” Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana posted on LinkedIn in November.
