From Waymo's Books to Wayve's Bet: Ex-CFO Elisa de Martel Joins $8.5B Startup
Wayve named former Waymo chief financial officer Elisa de Martel as CFO, as the London startup moves from testing toward robotaxi and passenger-vehicle deployment.
Harper Quinn, Live desk · Sept. 16, 2026 · 5-6 min
SUNNYVALE - Wayve has hired Elisa de Martel, the former chief financial officer of Alphabet's Waymo, as its new CFO, pulling a seasoned autonomy finance executive into a British self-driving software startup as it pushes from testing toward robotaxi and passenger-vehicle deployment.
Outgoing Wayve CFO Max Warburton, who held the post since 2024, is moving into a strategic advisory role supporting the company's leadership team, TechCrunch reported. De Martel will be based in Sunnyvale, California, and takes the same title she held at Waymo.
The appointment lands as Wayve says it is moving from development and testing toward deploying automated driving on two fronts: robotaxis and passenger vehicles. The company, founded in 2017 and now valued at about $8.5 billion, has raised $3.2 billion to date. Under Warburton, Wayve said it raised $1.2 billion in the past year and signed partnerships with Uber, Nissan, Stellantis, and Qualcomm.
De Martel was CFO at Waymo from 2022 to January 2026, a stretch in which the Alphabet unit began commercial service in several U.S. cities and raised $5.6 billion in a Series C that pushed its valuation above $45 billion. Wayve said she led financial strategy and capital planning at Waymo as weekly trips grew into the hundreds of thousands across five U.S. cities. Before Waymo she was CFO of industrial 3D-printing company Carbon, where she led a $260 million Series D, and spent more than a decade in finance at Apple, including manufacturing finance.
"I've spent my career at companies building transformative technology, and I am thrilled by the opportunity in front of Wayve right now," de Martel said in Wayve's announcement. "AV2.0 is an innovative, capital-efficient approach to autonomy, and I'm looking forward to scaling the AI Driver globally with our team and partners. As a road cyclist myself, safer roads matter to me personally, and I can't wait to help create a safer and more enjoyable future for all."
Alex Kendall, co-founder and chief executive of Wayve, said the hire is meant to scale the Wayve AI Driver, a single end-to-end system the company says does not rely on HD maps, hand-coded rules, or custom hardware. "I couldn't be more excited about the experience and passion Elisa brings in autonomy and deep tech, and I look forward to partnering with her to scale the company as we launch the Wayve AI Driver in millions of vehicles across the automotive and mobility industry," Kendall said. He also thanked Warburton for building Wayve's financial foundation and said Warburton will remain a strategic adviser.
Wayve's software is sold as an "eyes on" assisted-driving system and an "eyes off" automated-driving system that can run on robotaxis or consumer vehicles in limited environments. The company has started public rides in London with a human safety operator on board. Tokyo is expected to follow. As CFO, Wayve said de Martel will oversee financial strategy and planning, capital allocation, reporting, governance, treasury, and tax, and will advise on commercial, investor, and partnership deals.
The job is not a robotaxi launch. It is a finance hire at the point where Wayve has to turn an $8.5 billion valuation and a short list of OEM and ride-hail partners into volume. De Martel is the executive who kept Waymo's books through its commercial start and its $5.6 billion raise. Whether that experience maps onto a map-free software supplier is the bet Wayve is making from Sunnyvale.
Sources
Harper Quinn, Live desk. Harper Quinn covers breaking driverless news for Driverless News.
