Travis Kalanick’s robotics startup Atoms taps former Uber finance chief as CFO

Another erstwhile Uber enforcement is joining Travis Kalanick’s robotics and concern AI startup Atoms, just a fewer weeks aft it raised $1.7 billion.

Gautam Gupta, the erstwhile concern main nether Kalanick, said successful social media posts connected Wednesday that helium has has joined Atoms arsenic main fiscal officer. Gupta spent much than 4 years astatine Uber until helium left successful July 2017, conscionable a fewer weeks aft Kalanick resigned arsenic CEO. (Gupta had announced his volition to permission that May.)

Hiring Gupta continues a inclination of Kalanick getting the Uber set backmost unneurotic astatine Atoms. Earlier this year, Atoms acquired mining autonomy startup Pronto, which is tally by erstwhile Uber (and erstwhile Google) self-driving technologist Anthony Levandowski. According to LinkedIn, a fig of erstwhile apical Uber employees who worked with Kalanick besides enactment astatine Atoms, which was antecedently called CloudKitchens.

“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 erstwhile helium announced the $1.7 cardinal backing circular past month.

Uber adjacent joined the circular arsenic an investor, reuniting the institution with the laminitis it pushed retired successful 2017 aft a bid of scandals and complaints of wide intersexual harassment and discrimination. Uber hasn’t disclosed however overmuch it contributed. The Information reported $100 million, a fig that TechCrunch has besides been capable to confirm.

Kalanick has said helium wants Atoms to enactment connected mining, food, and transportation, though his posts to day astir the startup person been little astir specifics and much astir wanting to “go up against the last boss, Nature and its fierce absorption to change.”

Gupta invested successful Uber successful 2012 erstwhile helium was a vice president astatine Goldman Sachs, and past joined the institution successful 2013.

“[T]he azygous biggest crushed I joined was – Travis. I believed helium possessed a magical premix of genius and strength that made maine privation to stake connected the person, not the market,” Gupta wrote Wednesday. “First 1 in, past 1 out, each day. Breaking down walls of regulations, unions, metropolis bureaucracies, etc. Had helium not pioneered ridesharing, I don’t deliberation anyone other had the fortitude to combat done 1 adversity aft different to make a full caller marketplace worthy hundreds of billions retired of nothing.”

Gupta wrote Wednesday that A*, the VC steadfast helium co-founded successful 2020 aft 3 years astatine Opendoor, invested successful Atoms successful what was the “largest concern successful the past of our fund.” Gupta is stepping down from A* to instrumentality connected the CFO relation astatine Atoms, according to his LinkedIn profile.