Travis Kalanick's Atoms Secures $1.7 Billion to Drive Robotics Vision
Travis Kalanick raises $1.7 billion for Atoms, his robotics holding company, with Andreessen Horowitz leading and Uber returning to back him.
Key points
- Atoms, Travis Kalanick's robotics holding company, raised $1.7 billion in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz.
- Ben Horowitz will join Atoms' board following the investment.
- Uber participated, reconnecting Kalanick with the company that removed him as CEO in 2017.
- Atoms wraps Cloud Kitchens and Pronto, a heavy industry automation business, under one roof.
What is Atoms and where did it come from?
Atoms is a holding company built on top of Cloud Kitchens, the ghost kitchen business Kalanick has run since leaving Uber. When he announced the rebrand in March, Kalanick also revealed he'd acquired Pronto, a heavy industry automation firm previously run by Anthony Levandowski, his former colleague from Uber. The name reflects a stated ambition to move beyond software: building, as Kalanick put it on X, "atoms-based computers where CPU is manufacturing, storage is real estate, and network is transportation." He also described the goal as a "wheelbase for robots."
Andressen Horowitz led the $1.7 billion round. Ben Horowitz will take a board seat. Bain Capital and Fifth Wall joined, and so did Uber, whose participation is the detail that will get the most attention.
"Travis is Back," Horowitz posted on Wednesday. He called Kalanick a rare entrepreneur with "a gritty work ethic, drive, and range that spans across domains, from software architecture to mechanical engineering."
Why does Uber's involvement matter?
Uber pushed Kalanick out as CEO in 2017 following complaints about sexual harassment, discrimination and workplace culture. That the same company is now writing a cheque into his next venture says something about how the ride-sharing industry views automation risk. Our 14 July story on Uber's product chief and the company's robotaxi direction gives useful context: Uber is building its own physical-world bets and Atoms sits right in that territory.
Kalanick didn't detail on X what Atoms will actually build. The framing, sixteen years of wanting to "understand, predict and control the physical world with software," is broad enough to mean almost anything. Watch for specifics on which heavy industries Pronto targets first: that's where the real thesis will show.
Common questions
Who is Anthony Levandowski?
Levandowski is a self-driving vehicle engineer who worked at Uber after it acquired his startup. He was convicted in 2020 of trade-secret theft from Google, later pardoned, and went on to run Pronto before selling it to Kalanick.
Is this the same Andreessen Horowitz that backs many AI startups?
Yes. The firm, often called a16z, has backed many AI and robotics companies. Ben Horowitz is a co-founder.
