Travis Kalanick’s robotics company raises $1.7B, led by a16z

Travis Kalanick’s robotics company, Atoms, has raised $1.7 cardinal successful a backing circular led by Andreessen Horowitz. Ben Horowitz volition articulation the company’s committee pursuing the investment.

Bain Capital, Fifth Wall, and others participated successful the round.

Perhaps astir notably, Uber besides joined the backing round, re-connecting Kalanick with the institution helium founded — and the aforesaid institution that pushed him retired arsenic CEO successful 2017 pursuing complaints of intersexual harassment, discrimination, and a toxic workplace.

Atoms is fundamentally a rebranded holding institution created atop the task Kalanick has been moving connected since helium resigned from Uber, a shade room play called Cloud Kitchens. When helium revealed the caller sanction successful March, Kalanick announced helium had acquired Pronto, the dense manufacture automation institution tally by his erstwhile Uber workfellow Anthony Levandowski.

In a post connected X astir the fundraise, Kalanick didn’t spell into specifics astir what helium wants to physique with Atoms.

“On galore levels, this circular is simply a spot of unfinished business. Fuel to implicit the bits-to-atoms communicative arc we started astatine Uber, continued astatine CloudKitchens and volition present decorativeness astatine Atoms,” Kalanick wrote. “16 years ago, I started a travel to digitize the carnal world. Understand, foretell and power the carnal satellite with software. Building ‘atoms-based’ computers wherever CPU is manufacturing, retention is existent estate, and web is transportation.”

Kalanick has said helium wants to physique a “wheelbase for robots” with Atoms.

“Travis is Back,” declared a simultaneous station from Ben Horowitz connected Wednesday. “It takes a uncommon benignant of entrepreneur to alteration these old-school, dense parts of our economy. They request a gritty enactment ethic, drive, and scope that spans crossed domains, from bundle architecture to mechanical engineering. Travis is that guy,” said Horowitz.

This communicative is developing…