Waymo closes a $5bn loan, its first debt deal, to fund robotaxi growth

Waymo has closed a $5bn term loan, the first time the Alphabet-owned robotaxi company has raised money through debt. Pimco, Blackstone and Sixth Street led the loan, Waymo said on Thursday.

The money will go into expanding Waymo’s driverless ride-hailing service across the US and abroad, according to the company.

“Our strong momentum has enabled us to complement our equity financing with debt, providing additional financial flexibility to strengthen our balance sheet,” Steve Fieler, Waymo’s chief financial officer, wrote in a blog post.

From $3bn to $5bn

Waymo first sought to borrow more than $3bn, Bloomberg reported in early September. On Tuesday, Bloomberg’s Paula Seligson and Carmen Arroyo reported that Waymo had raised the size of the deal to $5bn. The Waymo loan priced at 5.25 percentage points over the benchmark rate, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg.

Capital Group, Loomis Sayles and T. Rowe Price joined as significant lenders. Apollo, Blue Owl, Diameter Capital Partners, Franklin Templeton, Fidelity Management & Research, HPS Investment Partners and Oaktree also took part. Goldman Sachs was the sole lead bookrunner.

Equity first, now debt

Until now, Waymo has funded itself with money from Alphabet and outside investors. In February, it raised $16bn in equity at a $126bn valuation. Last month, it opened in Las Vegas, its 15th US city, and it has named new cities abroad, including Munich for 2027 and Singapore for 2028. In August, Waymo said it had built its own chip for its robotaxis.

The growth has also drawn scrutiny from US regulators. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into how Waymo robotaxis behave around school buses, TechCrunch reported. It opened another after a Waymo hit a child near a school in Santa Monica.

The child suffered minor injuries. The National Transportation Safety Board opened its own investigation into the school bus incidents earlier this year.