Uber invests $100M in former CEO Travis Kalanick's Atoms

Travis Kalanick, Uber’s co-founder and former CEO, has returned to the robotics and mobility scene with Atoms — a holding company rebranded atop his ghost-kitchen project — and a deal to acquire Anthony Levandowski’s industrial automation startup, Pronto. Atoms has now raised $1.7 billion in capital in a round led by venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Bain Capital, Fifth Wall, and Uber. Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Ben Horowitz will join Atoms’ board following the investment.

Uber itself put $100 million into the round, a figure TechCrunch confirmed after The Information first reported it, with new reporting showing the investment was made six months ago. The participation is notable: Kalanick resigned from Uber’s top leadership post nearly a decade ago, following a string of scandals and lawsuits in the year before his departure — yet the company he once ran is again willing to back him financially.

Uber and Levandowski also share a fraught history. In 2016, while Kalanick was still CEO, Uber acquired Levandowski’s self-driving trucks startup, Otto. Less than a year later, Levandowski’s former employer Waymo, Google’s self-driving project, sued Uber for trade secret theft; the two companies settled on the fifth day of the trial.

What Atoms plans to do with its new capital remains vague, but a company email from Levandowski suggested Pronto will be central to those plans, noting that Atoms is investing heavily in industrial AI and physical automation for mining and transport. The email called Pronto “a core strategic priority for Atoms, and this round is designed to accelerate exactly what matters most to your operations: scaling practical, OEM-agnostic autonomy.”

Why it matters

Despite Uber’s messy history with both Kalanick and Levandowski, the ride-hailing company is once again betting capital on them — a sign that the appetite for industrial and physical-world AI automation now outweighs old boardroom baggage.