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. 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.