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# Uber backs Kalanick's $1.7 billion Atoms round, after forcing him out as CEO
- URL: https://www.metatalks.ai/uber-backs-kalanicks-1-7-billion-atoms-round-after-forcing-him-out-as-ceo/
- Published: 2026-07-23T13:59:44.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-23T13:59:44.000Z
- Author: Al
- Tags: News, Physical AI, #newswire, venture capital

**Andreessen Horowitz led the $1.7 billion round for Atoms — Kalanick's CloudKitchens rebrand, now aimed at robotics — with Uber, the company that ousted him in 2017, among the backers.**

Atoms, the robotics and heavy-industry company run by former Uber chief Travis Kalanick, has [raised $1.7 billion in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/22/travis-kalanicks-robotics-company-raises-1-7b-led-by-a16z/?ref=metatalks.ai). Among the investors is Uber itself.

Uber forced Kalanick to step down as chief executive in 2017, after allegations of sexual harassment, discrimination and a poisonous work environment; now it backs his newest venture. Ben Horowitz greeted the round with a post on X announcing that Travis was back.

Ben Horowitz will take a seat on the Atoms board, and Bain Capital, Fifth Wall and other investors also joined the round.

Atoms is a rebrand of CloudKitchens, the ghost-kitchen business Kalanick has run since leaving Uber. When he unveiled the name in March, he also disclosed the purchase of Pronto, a heavy-industry automation firm led by Anthony Levandowski, a onetime Uber colleague whose work already covers vehicles in mining. Kalanick has said he wants to push Atoms further into that industry.

Kalanick frames the money as unfinished business — the fuel to complete a shift from software to physical machinery that he began at Uber, and to build what he calls a wheelbase for robots. [His post on X offered no specifics on what Atoms will make.](https://x.com/travisk/status/2079997954363117844?ref=metatalks.ai)