Travis Kalanick’s industrial automation startup Atoms raises $1.7B in funding
Atoms, a startup led by Uber Technologies Inc. co-founder Travis Kalanick, has closed a $1.7 billion investment.
The company disclosed in its Wednesday funding announcement that Andreessen Horowitz led the raise. The venture capital firm was joined by more than a half-dozen others, including Uber. Additionally, Atoms has raised an unspecified amount of debt financing from a group of banks.
Atoms develops technologies that automate manual work in the restaurant, mining and transportation sectors. The company comprises seven business units that operate under separate brands. Most of those subsidiaries were originally part of City Storage Systems Inc., a startup that Kalanick founded in 2016. It became part of Atoms earlier this year.
City Storage Systems’ flagship asset was a business unit called CloudKitchens. The business, which is now one of Atoms’ seven subsidiaries, operates so-called ghost kitchens in dozens of U.S. cities. Restaurant operators use the facilities to process food delivery orders. Each CloudKitchens building contains more than 20 kitchens along with logistics infrastructure designed to expedite deliveries.
