Elisa de Martel Joins Wayve as CFO, Moving from Waymo
Elisa de Martel has joined self-driving startup Wayve as chief financial officer. She previously served as CFO at Alphabet's autonomous vehicle division, Waymo, where she played a key role during its commercial expansion and $5.6 billion Series C funding round in early 2024 that valued the company over $45 billion. At Wayve, de Martel will lead finance strategy and support strategic partnerships while helping scale operations as the startup prepares to deploy autonomous driving technology for robotaxis and consumer vehicles. Wayve is currently valued at around $8.5 billion after raising a total of $3.2 billion in funding. The company has developed an end-to-end neural network-based self-driving system that does not rely on high-definition maps or custom hardware, making it attractive to automakers like Nissan and Stellantis as well as companies such as Uber for robotaxi applications. De Martel's appointment is seen as a strategic move by Wayve’s leadership team. Her deep tech finance background includes roles at Apple and 3D printing company Carbon.
Topics: Autonomous Vehicles CFO Hiring Startup Growth Tech Industry