Uber's founder has raised $1.7 billion to develop a startup in the industrial AI sector

Founder Uber Travis Kalanick raised $1.7 billion in debt and equity financing for his new startup, Atoms, which develops robotic solutions and industrial artificial intelligence systems. Kalanick said wrote on his blog.

The venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) led the funding round. Uber also participated in the financing, while Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan acted as lenders. Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Ben Horowitz will join Atoms’ board of directors.

"In many ways, this funding round is a sort of unfinished task. It provides the resources to complete the transition from 'bits' to 'atoms'—a journey we began at Uber, continued at CloudKitchens, and will now complete at Atoms," Kalanick noted.

The company will use the funds raised to automate industrial processes using robotics.

"Mining, construction, heavy transportation, and food production are just a few examples of 'atoms-heavy industries'—sectors that deal with physical objects—that are poised for a large-scale digital transformation. Industrial AI is poised to become the driving force behind the next industrial revolution," Kalanick explained.

Kalanik sold his last shares and stepped down from Uber's board of directors in 2019. The new agreement was reached amid growing criticism from robotaxi, such as those developed by Alphabet's Waymo. Uber has carried out a series of investments in startups in the production of self-driving vehicles, including Nuro, Wayve, and Waabi.

Pronto, a company that manufactures autonomous vehicles for the mining industry and was founded by former Uber engineer Anthony Levandowski, is now also part of Atoms after Kalanick acquired the company in April.

Kalanick said on Wednesday that he regrets not having worked with Andreessen in the past, and that Uber suffered because the venture capital firm was not on its board of directors at the time he was fired.