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Self - drive truck startupKodiak Roboticsplans to go public via a merger with special design acquisition fellowship Ares Acquisition Corporation II .
The transaction rate Kodiak , which has raised around $ 243 million to date , at about $ 2.5 billion pre - money . novel and existing Kodiak institutional investors , like Soros Fund Management , ARK Investments , and are , have fund or committed over $ 110 million in financing to support the transaction , as well as about $ 551 million of Johnny Cash held in reliance .
The muckle is expected to close up in the second one-half of 2025 .
fit public via SPAC is an interesting move at a sentence when the self - driving motortruck space has know some major hits , including mellow - profile instrumentalist likeEmbarkandTuSimpleshutting down . SPACs have also lost much of their luster from theheyday of 2021 , especially for capital - intensive companies like AV and EV startups .
Kodiak does have something rifle for it , at least . It is revenue - give , albeit that taxation is likely minimum . Kodiak , which says it has drive 2.6 million mile autonomously , eventually desire to commercialize long - haul hauling operation . In the short - terminal figure , the party has pursued off - route self-sufficiency as a quicker path to grocery .
In January , Kodiak delivered itsfirst two autonomous trucksto client Atlas Energy Solutions , mark its first commercial launching . Atlas has committed to buying an initial order of 100 hand truck to aid its operations delivering frac sand in West Texas ’ distant Permian Basin .
That bit of revenue validates Kodiak ’s applied science more than pre - revenue startups , which have made up the bulk of SPAC mergers over the preceding few year , and it could start the doorway to PIPE investments . That say , the path to profitability is a long one , and the majuscule motivation of liberty are monolithic .
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TechCrunch reached out to Kodiak to get wind more about how long their current runway is but did not receive an immediate response .
Kodiak ’s public food market launching fare during a disruptive menstruation in the public markets , in large part due to President Trump ’s duty and the result trade war . It also comes as one of Kodiak ’s principal competitors , Aurora Innovation , is slate to begin amply driverless commercial trucking operationsthis month .
Kodiak CEODon Burnetteco - founded the company in 2018 after years of experience in self-directed driving . He previously worked on ego - driving tech at Google before leaving in other 2016 to help launch Otto , an AV startup founded alongsideAnthony Levandowski , Lior Ron , and Claire Delaunay . Otto was get by Uber , but things run quickly as Waymo sued Uber , incriminate Levandowski of barter secret theft . Uber finally settled with Waymo , and Levandowski was later reprehensively charged and plead shamed . He was doom to 18 months in prison house but pardoned by President Trump before serving meter .
Burnette , who had already left Otto before the Levandowski dramatic event , wangle to avoid the side effect and follow up on his chief goal — his thesis was thattrucking would be the killer appfor autonomy .
“ We believe recruit the public markets will speed our strategy to expand our survive mate relationships , provide our technology to a all-inclusive client base , and give up enhanced solution across the commercial trucking and public sector industries , ” Burnette say in a argument .