Travis Kalanick Returns as Atoms CEO With $1.7 Billion Investment

Travis Kalanick has returned to public attention as founder and CEO of Atoms, a physical-AI company that announced a $1.7 billion equity investment to expand automation across food, mining and transportation.

The investment was announced July 22, 2026, with Andreessen Horowitz as the lead investor. Ben Horowitz joined Atoms’ board. The announcement did not disclose the company’s valuation, ownership percentages or when the financing would close.

Kalanick said the investment consolidated Atoms’ previously separate businesses under one corporate structure. The company operates three divisions: Atoms Food, Atoms Mining and Atoms Transport.

Atoms describes its work as Industrial AI, combining software, sensors, robotics and artificial intelligence to automate physical industries. Its operations cover mining, logistics and food production, with a broader focus on physical production, storage and transportation.

“It takes a rare kind of entrepreneur to change these old-school, heavy parts of our economy,” Horowitz said. “Travis is that guy.”

Kalanick had worked on Atoms for eight years before its public launch. The company presents the venture as a consolidated effort to apply software and automation across industries that rely on physical operations.

Kalanick previously co-founded Uber and served as its CEO before leaving the company in 2017 amid investor pressure and scrutiny of its workplace culture. Uber’s board approved recommendations addressing culture, fairness and accountability after an external review that year.

Kalanick left Uber’s board effective Dec. 31, 2019, to focus on a new business and philanthropic work. “I’m proud of all that Uber has achieved,” he said at the time.

The Atoms investment places Kalanick at the center of a new physical-world venture spanning industrial software, robotics and automation.