The largest financing at the beginning of the year has arrived, amounting to 111 billion.

This is probably the largest financing deal at the beginning of 2026.

On February 3rd, Waymo, the autonomous driving subsidiary of Alphabet, announced the completion of a new round of financing worth $16 billion (approximately RMB 111 billion). Its post - investment valuation reached $126 billion (approximately RMB 874.4 billion).

As early as October 2024, Waymo received a $5.6 billion Series C financing, and its post - investment valuation was approximately $45 billion. In just over a year, its valuation has more than doubled. As a result, Waymo has become the world's first Robotaxi super unicorn with a valuation exceeding $100 billion.

Last year, Lou Tiancheng, the co - founder and CTO of Pony.ai, proposed in a media interview that there are clear thresholds in the competition of L4 - level autonomous driving, namely "driverless operation" and "scalability". According to this standard, only Waymo, Baidu, and Pony.ai remain in the game globally. Although this view has not yet become an absolute consensus in the industry, with the finalization of this huge financing, Waymo may be able to secure a key position in the future ecosystem in advance.

Valuation Upgraded Three Times

In fact, there have long been rumors in the market about Waymo's this round of financing.

In December 2025, Bloomberg reported that Waymo was planning to seek a $15 billion financing round, and its valuation was close to $100 billion at that time. One month later, the relevant figures became "a $16 billion financing with a valuation exceeding $110 billion". Now, the rumors have settled, and the final figures are fixed at "$16 billion and a $126 billion valuation".

The three - level jump in the financing scale and valuation in a short period reflects the enthusiasm of the capital market. What's more eye - catching is the "all - star" lineup of investors.

According to the announcement, this round of financing was led by Dragoneer Investment Group, DST Global, and Sequoia Capital. Other investors include a16z, Mubadala Capital (Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund), BVP, Silver Lake, Tiger Global Management, T. Rowe Price, BDT & MSD Partners, CapitalG, Fidelity Management & Research Company, GV, Kleiner Perkins, Perry Creek Capital, and Temasek.

Let's mention Dragoneer Investment Group (hereinafter referred to as Dragon Boat Investment), one of the leading investors. Compared with Sequoia Capital and DST Global, Dragon Boat Investment may be a bit unfamiliar to the public. However, this institution has strong capabilities and has invested in many star projects such as Airbnb, Spotify, and Uber. In August 2025, Dragon Boat Investment also showed its strength by injecting $2.8 billion into OpenAI at one go.

In addition to the above - mentioned external institutions, Waymo's parent company, Alphabet, also participated in this round of financing. Although the specific investment ratio was not clearly stated in the announcement, previously, foreign media quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that Alphabet will bear approximately $13 billion of the $16 billion financing alone, and the remaining funds will come from external investors such as Sequoia Capital, DST Global, and Dragoneer.

At present, this information is quite consistent with the actual situation. Presumably, there won't be much difference in this " $13 billion". We can only sigh that in the long - march towards autonomous driving, Waymo already has the ultimate advantage of "leaning on a giant tree".

The "King of Autonomous Driving" Incubated by Google

Waymo's story dates back to 2009.

At that time, it was just an autonomous vehicle project launched within Google. Later, in December 2016, it was officially spun off and became a subsidiary of Alphabet.

After becoming independent, Waymo quickly stepped out of the laboratory and tested its technology on public roads. In April 2017, the company launched the "Early Rider Program" in Arizona, USA, and was the first to offer the experience of driverless cars to hundreds of local ordinary citizens. This program not only helped the company accumulate early real - user data but was also regarded as the prototype of the world's autonomous taxi (Robotaxi) service.

On this basis, Waymo officially launched its first commercial service, Waymo One autonomous taxi, at the end of 2018. After the service was launched, it developed rapidly. By the end of 2019, the cumulative number of service passengers had exceeded 100,000, and the operation scope had expanded from Phoenix to California. At this time, the total mileage of Waymo's autonomous driving road tests had exceeded 20 million miles.

In the field of autonomous driving, having data means having the upper hand. At that time, Waymo was praised by Egon Durban, the CEO of Silver Lake, as the "absolute leader in the field of autonomous driving".

Backed by Alphabet and supported by technology and data, Waymo has also shown strong fundraising ability in the capital market. Almost every round of financing has refreshed the records in the field, and the company's valuation has also been rising steadily.

Waymo's first external financing took place in March 2020, led by Alphabet, with the participation of Silver Lake, a16z, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund. The amount was as high as $2.25 billion, setting a record for a single - round financing in the field of autonomous driving at that time.

Just two months later, an additional $750 million was added to this round of financing. The investors included T. Rowe Price Associates, Perry Creek Capital, and Fidelity Management & Research Company. So far, the total amount of Waymo's first - round financing had expanded to $3 billion.

In June 2021, the company received a $2.5 billion Series B financing from institutions such as Silver Lake, Tiger Global Management, Temasek, and a16z, and its post - investment valuation reached $30 billion. In October 2024, Waymo completed a $5.6 billion Series C financing at a valuation of $45 billion.

From $45 billion to $126 billion, its valuation has nearly tripled in just over a year, which is due to the rapid advancement of Waymo's commercialization process and verifiable scale data.

Currently, Waymo's business mainly focuses on the commercial operation and global expansion of Robotaxi. The company has achieved stable operations in cities such as Phoenix, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta, and Miami in the United States, with the number of paid orders per week exceeding 450,000. According to the plan, Waymo will also expand its services to important US cities such as Dallas, Denver, Detroit, and Houston in 2026 and plans to enter the UK market.

The injection of this huge $16 billion in this round of financing will undoubtedly provide key fuel for the above - mentioned plans.

Autonomous Driving: Total Financing Exceeded $58.2 Billion in 2025

Waymo is not the first autonomous driving company to announce financing recently. Last month, Chinese intelligent driving company Z-ai completed a $400 million financing. If we look back at 2025, the capital enthusiasm in this field remained high throughout the year.

What is most impressive is November 6th, 2025. WeRide and Pony.ai were listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on the same day, successfully raising HK$2.39 billion and HK$7.7 billion respectively. Subsequently, CIDI Intelligence also successfully went public, becoming the first Hong Kong - listed company focusing on intelligent driving for commercial vehicles.

Before that, huge - scale financings in the primary market had occurred frequently. For example, Neolix, an unmanned delivery company, completed a Series D financing of over $600 million, setting a record for a single - round financing in the domestic field at that time. Jiushi Intelligence completed a $100 million Series B4 financing led by Ant Group. Didi Autonomous Driving also completed a $2 billion Series D financing.

The data is more intuitive. According to CVSource, a platform of ChinaVenture, in 2025, a total of 35 companies in the field of autonomous driving received financing, and the total disclosed financing amount exceeded $58.2 billion, nearly three times the scale of 2023.

It is worth mentioning that compared with the investment boom in autonomous driving around 2021, this round of capital recovery shows a significant "focus" characteristic - the funds are clearly flowing to fields with clear commercial scenarios. This includes L2 - level assisted driving that has achieved large - scale installation and L4 applications that have achieved commercial closed - loops in specific scenarios, such as unmanned delivery vehicles (RoboVan), autonomous taxis (Robotaxi), and unmanned mines. And in whichever niche market, the funds are accelerating to concentrate on leading enterprises that have proven their technological feasibility and commercial operation capabilities.

This shift also reflects that the narrative focus of the entire industry has undergone a fundamental change - from the grand narrative of technological disruption to the verification of the practical ability of large - scale commercialization. The selection criteria of capital are no longer the fantastical concepts but the doers who can first achieve a commercial closed - loop in specific scenarios and show the ability to replicate and expand.

It is foreseeable that as leading enterprises replenish their ammunition, a "Matthew effect" battle for market share and commercialization progress will become more intense.

This article is from the WeChat official account "ChinaVenture". Author: Wang Manhua. Republished by 36Kr with authorization.