Waymo, the autonomous driving technology company incubated by Alphabet, is reportedly nearing the completion of a $16 billion funding round that would value the company at $110 billion, according to the Financial Times. More than three-fourths of the funding is expected to come from Alphabet, Waymo's parent company.
The funding round includes new investors Dragoneer, Sequoia Capital, and DST Global, with existing backers Andreessen Horowitz and Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala also participating, the Financial Times reported. A Waymo spokesperson, when contacted by TechCrunch, declined to comment on the private financial matters but stated, "our trajectory is clear: with over 20 million trips completed, we are focused on the safety-led operational excellence."
In other news, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang refuted a Wall Street Journal report claiming friction between Nvidia and OpenAI regarding a previously announced investment plan. Huang stated the report was "nonsense" after the WSJ reported that Nvidia was considering scaling back its investment in OpenAI. The two companies announced a plan in September for Nvidia to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI and build 10 gigawatts of computing infrastructure for the AI company. The WSJ claimed Huang had begun emphasizing that the deal was nonbinding and had privately criticized OpenAI's business strategy, expressing concerns about competitors like Anthropic and Google. The WSJ also reported that the two companies were rethinking their relationship, though not necessarily ending it entirely.
Meanwhile, Kofi Ampadu, the partner at a16z who led the firm's Talent x Opportunity (TxO) fund and program, has left the firm, according to an email he sent to staff that TechCrunch obtained. This departure follows the firm's decision to pause TxO and lay off most of its staff last November. Ampadu led the program, which launched in 2020, for over four years. In his email, Ampadu wrote, "During my time at the firm, I was deeply grateful for the opportunity and the trust to lead this work... Identifying out-of-network entrepreneurs and supporting them as they sharpened their ideas, raised capital, and grew into confident leaders was one of the most meaningful experiences of my career." The program was initially led by Na.
In other tech developments, Selina Tobaccowala, former president and CTO of SurveyMonkey, is launching a new app called HomeBoost designed to help users save on utility bills. Tobaccowala was inspired by her daughter's habit of leaving reminders to turn off lights. "I saw the kids and thought, Let me see if theres something there on the sustainability and climate side," Tobaccowala told TechCrunch. She added, "Given my love of surveys, I surveyed a ton a ton of customers." Her research revealed that people were struggling to find ways to lower their utility costs.
Finally, Physical Intelligence, a robotics startup, is developing robot brains in a San Francisco headquarters marked only by a subtle pi symbol on the door. The space is described as a "giant concrete box" filled with tables laden with monitors, robotics parts, wires, and robotic arms.
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