Waymo's $16B round and expansion

Alex Immerman, General Partner on Growth at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), joins Sourcery to break down how one of Silicon Valley’s most influential firms is investing across AI, fintech, autonomous vehicles, and growth-stage software.

With a fresh $6.75B Growth fund, a16z Growth now manages over $22B across five Growth funds. Alex discusses how a16z evaluates category leaders, what separates private markets from public markets today, and why firms are rethinking old metrics in the AI era. He also goes deep on some of a16z’s highest-profile portfolio companies and investments including Waymo, Kalshi, Coinbase, Robinhood, Stripe, Revolut, ElevenLabs, Flock Safety, and more.

We cover:

• Why private markets now hold much of the highest-growth opportunity

• Waymo’s growth, valuation, market share, and the future of autonomous driving

• Why a16z backed Kalshi and what makes prediction markets so compelling

• ElevenLabs, voice AI, and how breakout AI companies build defensibility

• The new AI underwriting framework: growth, engagement, retention, and margins

• How a16z scaled from startup VC to capturing 18% of all U.S. venture dollars

• Why market leaders capture outsized value and how a16z thinks about winning

If you enjoy interviews at the intersection of venture capital, AI, fintech, public markets, and frontier technology, subscribe to Sourcery for more.

Alex Immerman: https://x.com/aleximm 

Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea 

Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy 

𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊

YouTube: https://youtu.be/MLXYJZAikBc

𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒

• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery

• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery• VCX—VCX is the public ticker for private tech, allowing investors of all sizes to invest in venture capital. View The Portfolio at http://GetVCX.com

• Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery

• Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery

Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!

https://www.sourcery.vc/

Disclosure

Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.

𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒

(00:00) Alex Immerman, GP a16z

(00:53) Flock Safety: The most underrated company in America

(03:43) Private vs public market growth gap

(04:43) Do gross margins matter in AI companies?

(06:33) Waymo’s growth and $16B funding round

(08:13) The future of ride sharing and autonomous vehicles

(10:01) Where the value in self driving tech will accrue

(12:27) Tesla FSD vs Waymo’s full stack approach

(13:50) The growing brand power of Waymo

(15:43) What comes after autonomous cars? Humanoid robots

(17:41) Are people really worried about AI taking over?

(18:55) Inside ElevenLabs’ $500M funding round

(22:12) The real world use cases of voice AI agents