Atoms raises $1.7 billion for robotics expansion in Asia-Pacific

Atoms, a robotics and industrial automation group founded by Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick, has secured $1.7 billion in funding. The investment round was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from Uber, Bain Capital, and Fifth Wall.

The capital is intended to expand hardware automation across KitchenBASE locations, a commercial kitchen network operating in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and Australia. Within the Atoms Food division, the funding will support the development of hardware projects such as automated bowl-builders and order conveyance robots designed to reduce labor friction in commercial kitchens.

In addition to the capital injection, Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, will join the Atoms board. The group aims to utilize these resources to advance robotics capabilities across the food, mining, and transport sectors.