Waymo has tapped the debt markets for the first time, closing a $5 billion term loan on Thursday to bankroll the next phase of its robotaxi expansion, the company announced.
The loan was upsized from an initial target of about $3 billion, with PIMCO, Blackstone and Sixth Street as lead lenders and Goldman Sachs acting as sole bookrunner. It was priced at 5.25 percentage points above the benchmark rate, according to the company.
The debt raise follows a $16 billion equity round earlier this year that valued the Alphabet-owned company at $126 billion. Waymo says the fresh capital will fund its robotaxi scale-up: it launched service in its 15th U.S. city last month and has expansion into Japan and Singapore on the roadmap.
The deal signals that lenders now view autonomous ride-hailing as a bankable business — a milestone for an industry that has burned through billions in venture funding to get here.
