Travis Kalanick is putting the band back together. His industrial-robotics startup Atoms has hired Gautam Gupta, who ran Uber’s finances during Kalanick’s tenure, as its new chief financial officer.
Gautam Gupta was Uber’s finance chief from 2013 until 2017, the years Kalanick built the company into a global force, and he is now rejoining the boss he served during that run.
He said the single biggest reason he joined was Kalanick himself, whom he described as possessing a magical mix of genius and intensity, a striking endorsement for a founder once pushed out of his own company.
The move fits a pattern. Atoms has become a magnet for former Uber leaders, with a string of ex-colleagues gravitating back to Kalanick as he builds his next act.
Among them is Anthony Levandowski. The self-driving veteran runs Pronto, which Atoms absorbed earlier this year, folding another familiar name into Kalanick’s orbit.
