Travis Kalanick’s new industrial-robotics venture, Atoms, closed a $1.7 billion funding round in July 2026, led by Andreessen Horowitz. The company secured one of the biggest investments in robotics and industrial AI this year. But what caught everyone’s attention wasn’t the company’s valuation or who led the funding round; it was one unexpected name on the investor list—Uber.
Nine years after its board pushed Kalanick out of the CEO role, Uber is now an investor in the startup he built next. What began with a high-profile executive exit has now turned into one of the year’s biggest funding stories. It’s a reminder that in Silicon Valley, today’s setback can become tomorrow’s comeback if the opportunity is big enough.
Background: A Founder Defined by Growth and Controversy
Kalanick co-founded Uber with Garrett Camp in 2009. He ran it for eight years, turning a niche ride-hailing app into one of the most highly valued private companies in the world. During this period, he was considered one of the industry’s most polarizing executives, known for an aggressive management style and a willingness to clash publicly with regulators, competitors, and, eventually, his own board.
The company was growing fast, but so were the problems. In 2017, the company’s success and its controversies collided, leading to a major turning point. The chain of events that ended Kalanick’s tenure began in February 2017, when former Uber engineer Susan Fowler published an account of workplace harassment and the company’s failure to act on her complaints.
The essay prompted Uber’s board to commission an internal culture review led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
Holder’s investigation found the company lacked basic protections against workplace harassment, and more than 20 employees, including several managers, were subsequently terminated.
The pressure became immense in the following months. Footage surfaced of Kalanick berating an Uber driver over a fare dispute, bolstering the narrative of a toxic leadership culture. By June 2017, five of Uber’s largest investors had drafted a letter, titled “Moving Uber Forward,” calling for his immediate resignation. The letter was hand-delivered to Kalanick at a hotel in Chicago.
He resigned as chief executive on June 21, 2017, retaining his board seat and an ownership stake of roughly 10 percent. He said, “I love Uber more than anything in the world,” in a statement at the time. He added that he had accepted the investors’ request “so that Uber can go back to building rather than be distracted by another fight.” The resignation came weeks after the death of his mother in a boating accident, in which his father was also seriously injured. At 40, Kalanick had built and lost control of what was then the world’s most highly valued startup after a single boardroom decision.
The Silent Rebuild
Instead of trying to fix his public image, Kalanick chose to stay away from the spotlight and rebuild silently. A year after leaving Uber, in 2018, he became the CEO of a new company called City Storage Systems. The name didn’t reveal much about what the company actually did. He kept things that way on purpose. For nearly eight years, employees were reportedly not allowed to mention the company on LinkedIn. Kalanick later described this approach as operating in “full underground, full stealth.”
Behind the scenes, the company was building CloudKitchens—a network of delivery-only kitchens that allowed restaurants to prepare food for online orders without opening a physical storefront. While most people weren’t paying attention, the business kept growing. Its reported valuation climbed from around $5 billion in 2019 to $15 billion by 2022, attracting investors including Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.
By the time Kalanick stepped back into the public eye, he had quietly built another multibillion-dollar company, this time without the constant headlines that had followed him at Uber.
The Rebrand: From CloudKitchens to Atoms
In March 2026, Kalanick broke 8 years of silence and unveiled a new name for his company, Atoms. But this wasn’t just a rebrand. It was with a much bigger vision than the delivery-only kitchens the company had become famous for.
Kalanick said Atoms would focus on using AI and automation to solve problems in industries like mining, construction, transportation, and food production. The company was divided into three parts: Atoms Food, which continued the CloudKitchens business, Atoms Mining, and Atoms Transport.
As part of this new chapter, Atoms also acquired Pronto, a startup that develops self-driving technology for heavy industrial vehicles. The company was founded by Anthony Levandowski, a former engineer at both Uber and Google. Levandowski is well known in the tech industry because of a legal battle between Uber and Google over self-driving technology. In 2020, he received a presidential pardon related to that case.
With Atoms, Kalanick made it clear that he wasn’t just building another startup. He was aiming to bring AI and automation into some of the world’s biggest industries.
The Ultimate Plot Twist
On July 22, 2026, Atoms raised $1.7 billion in fresh funding. The investment was led by Andreessen Horowitz and the firm’s co-founder, Ben Horowitz. They joined Atoms’ board as part of the deal. Several other investors also backed the company, including Bain Capital, Fifth Wall, Chemistry, K5 Global, SV Angel, and Alpha Square Group.
But the biggest surprise wasn’t the amount of money raised or the list of investors. It was Uber. Nine years after removing Travis Kalanick as CEO, Uber had invested in his new company. The company did not explain why it decided to invest, and it did not reveal how much money it contributed.
Uber’s name on the list quickly became the biggest talking point. It was a reminder of how much things had changed since 2017. A company that had once pushed Kalanick out is now backing his next venture.
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