Waymo extends external funding round to $3 billion

(Reuters) – Waymo, the self-driving unit of Alphabet Inc , said on Tuesday it raised an additional $750 million in its first external investment round, bringing the total funding to $3 billion.

T. Rowe Price Associates Inc, Perry Creek Capital and Fidelity Management & Research were among the investors of the latest financing round, the company said. (https://bit.ly/35QOoHh)

This round comes after the initial investment of $2.25 billion, earlier in March. (https://reut.rs/2xUYw55)

Founded 11 years ago as a small project inside Google, Waymo is now widely considered the leader in developing self-driving technology. But Waymo and its principal rivals are still years away from building large-scale businesses around that technology, analysts believe.

The outside investors will help Waymo be more disciplined, Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat told a Morgan Stanley investor conference in March.

(Reporting by Ayanti Bera in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)