Atoms, the industrial AI and robotics company founded by Uber co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick, has secured a $1.7 billion equity investment led by Andreessen Horowitz. The round also included Bain Capital Ventures, Uber, Fifth Wall, A*, Chemistry, K5 Global, Abstract, SV Angel and Alpha Square Group. Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Ben Horowitz will join the Atoms board.
As part of the transaction, Atoms combined its operating businesses under a single equity structure. The consolidation will support the next stage of its growth as it increases machine production, expands deployments and addresses automation challenges across several industrial markets.
Atoms grew out of City Storage Systems, the company Kalanick established after leaving Uber. The business operated quietly for about eight years before emerging publicly under the Atoms name as a broader industrial automation platform.
Kalanick has described Atoms as the continuation of a technology journey that began with Uber and continued through CloudKitchens. The company is applying software and automation to industries that manufacture, grow, mine and transport physical goods.
Atoms develops systems that combine artificial intelligence, software, sensors, and specialized robotics. The company refers to this category as Industrial AI, intended to automate physical operations and improve productivity across sectors such as food production, mining, and transportation.
The company describes itself as an original equipment manufacturer for “atoms-based computers,” its term for machines that bring computing and automation into the physical world.
Atoms currently consists of three primary operating divisions. Atoms Food develops infrastructure and automation for food production, Atoms Mining focuses on increasing mining productivity, and Atoms Transport develops robotic mobility platforms.
The food division incorporates Kalanick’s CloudKitchens business, while the mining and transportation operations focus on specialized robots designed for specific industrial tasks rather than general-purpose humanoid machines.
Atoms plans to use the new capital to manufacture additional machines, increase commercial deployments and develop multiple industrial automation systems simultaneously.
The company did not disclose the valuation attached to the equity investment.
KEY QUOTE:
Atoms is the OEM for atoms-based computers across the industries that move the physical world:
– Atoms Food – infrastructure for better food.
– Atoms Mining – more productive mines to power earth’s industries.
– Atoms Transport – wheelbase for robots.
For eight years, we’ve been building quietly. This round is fuel for the next phase – more machines, more deployments, more of the hardest problems in the physical world attacked at once.
Atoms statement
