Atoms

Atoms is a US-based holding company that develops robotics, software and infrastructure to automate physical industries. Its self-description frames the business around systems that are 'mined, grown, manufactured, and moved,' organized into three divisions: Atoms Food (food infrastructure), Atoms Mining (mine productivity) and Atoms Transport (described as a 'wheelbase for robots'). The company positions these systems as machines that sense, predict and act in physical environments.

The atoms.co site lists seven constituent companies and projects: CloudKitchens (delivery-first kitchens for restaurants), Pronto AI (autonomous haulage systems for mines and quarries), an unannounced transport company, Lab37 (automated kitchen systems for consistent, affordable meals at scale), Otter (restaurant operating software unifying orders, delivery apps and kitchen operations), Picnic (office lunch delivery from restaurants) and ProFood (real estate, facilities and production environments for food brands).

Atoms was assembled as a holding structure built atop CloudKitchens, Kalanick's ghost-kitchen business, plus Pronto, the heavy-industry automation firm formerly led by Anthony Levandowski, which Kalanick acquired in March 2026. Reporting describes the company's strategy as building task-specific industrial robots rather than general-purpose humanoids, on the thesis that specialized machines achieve higher efficiency and lower cost and integrate more readily into production lines and supply chains.

Founding story

Atoms grew out of the ghost-kitchen company CloudKitchens, the project Travis Kalanick began after resigning as CEO of Uber in 2017. Kalanick has framed Atoms as continuing a 'bits-to-atoms' arc begun at Uber and continued at CloudKitchens, describing a 16-year effort to understand, predict and control the physical world with software.

Business model

Atoms operates as a holding company (described in reporting as an OEM for industrial 'atoms-based computers') that owns and builds multiple operating businesses across food, mining and transport, combining robotics hardware, software and physical infrastructure such as kitchens and real estate.

Traction

Built In lists 497 total employees. No commercial traction metrics for the three divisions have been disclosed publicly, per reporting.

Latest developments

In July 2026 Atoms closed a $1.7 billion equity investment led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Ben Horowitz joining the board. Equity participants included Bain Capital, Fifth Wall, Chemistry, A*, K5 Global, Abstract, SV Angel, Alpha Square Group and Uber. Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan and Barclays were listed as debt partners, with no disclosed facility size. Post-money valuation was not disclosed. The company said proceeds would fund operational expansion, engineering hiring, product development and investment in software, robotics and infrastructure.