As Alphabet’s self-driving technology unit, Waymo had so far been internally funded but has followed a similar pattern to the life sciences-focused Verily among the internet technology provider’s so-called other bets. Verily raised $1bn from a consortium led by private equity firm Silver Lake, which also co-led Waymo’s round alongside Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Mubadala Investment, while automotive trade services provider AutoNation invested $50m.
GCV Emerging Leaders Awards 2020 winner Sherry House, head of corporate development at Waymo, by inmail said: “This deal was a great win for my new corp dev team and Waymo as a whole. We’re really excited about the calibre of investors that we brought in and the deeper relationship we’re forging with our long-term strategic partners.”
Like Verily, Waymo has invested in other startups too, and in December acquired University of Oxford spinout Latent Logic, which uses a form of machine learning called imitation learning to develop simulations of the behaviour of motorists, cyclists and pedestrians in order to help autonomous vehicles coexist and interact with humans in the real world.
Oxford is now Waymo’s first non-US engineering hub, with Kirsty Lloyd-Jukes, former CEO of Latent Logic and previously a director of venture businesses for breakdown recovery service AA, as European director of corporate development.
Oxford’s spinouts and investors, led by Oxford Sciences Innovation, will be hosting more of its success stories at the Global Corporate Venturing Symposium in June.
