Atoms, the robotics and industrial AI company led by Travis Kalanick, has raised $1.7 billion in an equity round led by a16z, with Ben Horowitz joining the company's board1,2.
Bain Capital, Fifth Wall, and others participated in the round. Uber also joined the funding round, reconnecting Kalanick with the company he co-founded — and the same company that pushed him out as CEO in 2017.
Kalanick described the raise as "unfinished business" in a post on X. "Fuel to complete the bits-to-atoms story arc we started at Uber, continued at CloudKitchens and will now finish at Atoms," Kalanick wrote.
Atoms is targeting what Kalanick calls physical AI across major industrial sectors. "Mining, construction, heavy transport, food production are just a few examples of atoms-heavy industries awaiting massive digital transformation," Kalanick said in a company announcement. He described "multiple trillion-dollar industries rapidly transforming over the next decade powering an engine of prosperity unparalleled in human history".
The company is a rebranded holding company built on top of Cloud Kitchens, the ghost kitchen venture Kalanick pursued after leaving Uber. When Kalanick revealed the Atoms name in March, he announced the acquisition of Pronto, a heavy industry automation company run by his former Uber colleague Anthony Levandowski. Kalanick has also said he wants to expand into mining beyond Pronto's existing vehicle automation work in that sector.
Ben Horowitz wrote in a blog post that robots are set to perform most menial work in the physical world, just as computers transformed information. "I think the most valuable thing someone could do with AI and robotics is to repeat the same thing Uber did for transportation, or that computers did for the digital world: to make everything and everyone more productive," Horowitz said.
Kalanick's interest in the autonomous vehicle space has extended beyond Pronto. Last year, it was reported that Kalanick was interested in buying the U.S. arm of Pony.ai with backing from Uber, though The Information reported in March that those talks had ended.
Pony.ai, separately, announced a partnership on July 21 with JD Auto Service to build a maintenance network for its robotaxi fleet in China[2].
ANALYSIS The round positions Atoms at the intersection of robotics, automation, and AI applied to physical industries — a domain distinct from the digital-first AI applications that have dominated recent venture capital activity. The Uber participation and Levandowski's involvement through Pronto tie the venture directly to the autonomous vehicle and logistics networks Kalanick built earlier in his career.