Travis Kalanick’s Robotics Venture Atoms Appoints Ex-Uber Finance Leader as CFO
A former executive from Uber has joined Travis Kalanick’s AI and robotics venture, Atoms, shortly after the company secured $1.7 billion in funding.
Gautam Gupta, who previously served as Uber’s finance chief under Kalanick, announced on social media that he has now assumed the role of chief financial officer at Atoms. Gupta was with Uber for over four years before departing in July 2017, shortly after Kalanick resigned as CEO, a move Gupta had signaled in May.
Gupta’s hiring aligns with Kalanick’s strategy of reuniting former Uber colleagues at Atoms. Earlier this year, Atoms integrated Pronto, a mining autonomy startup led by ex-Uber and Google self-driving engineer Anthony Levandowski. Various former high-ranking Uber staffers, who collaborated with Kalanick, are also part of the Atoms team, which was formerly known as CloudKitchens.
Kalanick explained in a statement regarding the recent funding that this effort represents a continuation of the journey that began during their time at Uber, carried through CloudKitchens, and is now set to culminate at Atoms.
Uber participated in the funding round, rekindling ties with its founder, who was ousted in 2017 amid numerous scandals involving harassment claims. While Uber hasn’t disclosed its investment amount, reports suggest a contribution of around $100 million, a figure that has been corroborated by other sources.
Kalanick has expressed aspirations for Atoms to delve into sectors like mining, food, and transportation, though he has largely focused on the overarching challenge of innovating against natural resistance to change.
Gupta, who had invested in Uber back in 2012 while he was a VP at Goldman Sachs, officially became part of the company in 2013.
“The primary reason for my decision to join was — Travis. I recognized he had a unique combination of brilliance and drive that compelled me to invest in him over market conditions,” Gupta stated in his announcement. He is known for his dedication, being the first to arrive and the last to leave each day. He emphasized that Kalanick’s pioneering efforts in ridesharing were critical in forging an entirely new market sector worth hundreds of billions.
In his recent posts, Gupta revealed that A*, the venture capital firm he co-founded in 2020 after working at Opendoor, made a historic investment in Atoms, marking it as the largest in their fund’s history. He will be stepping back from A* to focus on his new role at Atoms.
