Uber invests as Travis Kalanick raises $1.7 billion for robotics firm Atoms
Former Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick has secured $1.7 billion to build specialised industrial robots, marking a significant financial reconciliation with the company that ousted him nearly a decade ago.
Travis Kalanick has raised $1.7 billion for Atoms, an industrial artificial intelligence and robotics company he has developed in stealth mode. Andreessen Horowitz led the equity round, which notably includes a financial contribution from Uber, the ride-hailing giant Kalanick founded and was forced to leave in 2017.
The massive capital injection highlights a major shift in venture funding towards physical infrastructure over pure software. Alongside equity from Bain Capital and Fifth Wall, Atoms secured credit facilities from JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Barclays. This combination of equity and debt provides the heavy firepower required to manufacture physical machines rather than digital applications.
Kalanick’s strategy targets the foundational sectors of the global economy, including mining, construction, heavy transport and food production. He frames this transition as the "Age of Atoms," where manufacturing acts as the processor, real estate as storage, and transport as the network. By deploying software, sensors and robotics into these unglamorous industries, Atoms aims to automate entire physical supply chains.
Crucially, the company is rejecting the current industry obsession with general-purpose humanoid robots. Instead, Atoms is building specialised hardware designed to operate in brutal industrial environments. Ben Horowitz, whose firm led the round and who will join the board, argues that purpose-built machines are far more effective for these specific tasks than bipedal robots.
Atoms operates through three distinct divisions. Atoms Food integrates his ghost-kitchen venture CloudKitchens, while Atoms Transport provides a foundational wheelbase for robotic vehicles. Atoms Mining focuses on autonomous extraction equipment, bolstered by the acquisition of Pronto, a startup founded by Anthony Levandowski.
The involvement of Levandowski reintroduces complex historical baggage, given his central role in a past trade-secrets dispute between Google and Uber before he received a presidential pardon. Furthermore, Uber’s decision to fund Kalanick represents a striking financial reconciliation. The company originally pushed him out following widespread complaints of a toxic workplace, discrimination and sexual harassment.
Despite the controversies, investor enthusiasm is high. One Andreessen Horowitz partner described the funding as the largest cheque the firm has ever written, while another predicted Atoms could reach a trillion-dollar valuation within a decade. Kalanick himself characterised the fundraising as "unfinished business," though the company has yet to disclose its valuation or demonstrate deployed robots at an industrial scale.
