Uber co-founder raises $1.7B for new robotics startup ATOMS

ATOMS, a robotics startup led by Uber co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick, announced $1.7 billion in equity funding on July 23, 2026. The company said the capital will support its effort to build robots for productive work across major industrial sectors. Kalanick described the objective as extending a bits-to-atoms path begun at Uber and continued through CloudKitchens, although ATOMS has released few technical details about its planned machines.

The company said it will operate as an original equipment manufacturer of computers rooted in physical systems, or atoms-based computers. It also consolidated its different businesses into a single equity structure as part of the investment. Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z, and Ben Horowitz led the round and will join ATOMS’ board. Other equity participants were Bain Capital, Uber, Fifth Wall, Chemistry, A*, K5 Global, Abstract, SV Angel, and Alpha Square Group. Its debt partners include Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan, and Barclays.

ATOMS is effectively a renamed holding company built on CloudKitchens, in which Kalanick acquired a controlling stake after leaving Uber. Uber’s participation in the financing reconnects it with its former founder. Kalanick left Uber in 2017 after allegations that he disregarded reports of sexual harassment at the company.

ATOMS said it intends to use physical automation in several fields, initially citing food infrastructure, mining productivity, and a wheelbase for mobile robots. Its stated goal is specialized robots capable of real work, rather than a uniform design for every setting. Kalanick contrasted humanoids, which he said could handle smaller-scale jobs in human-designed environments such as homes, with customized automation for high-throughput industrial operations, including kitchens producing 1,000 pancakes per hour.