Travis Kalanick's robotics startup Atoms taps former Uber finance chief as CFO | TechCrunch

The robotics and industrial artificial intelligence enterprise Atoms has appointed Gautam Gupta as its new chief financial officer.

Gupta, who previously managed financial operations at Uber, is reuniting with Atoms founder and former Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick. This high-profile executive addition comes shortly after the startup secured a massive one-point-seven billion dollar funding round, which surprisingly featured financial backing from Uber itself, marking a reconciliation of sorts with its ousted founder. The recruitment of Gupta aligns with a visible trend of Kalanick assembling his former leadership team to support his latest industrial venture, which operated under the name CloudKitchens before its recent rebranding.

Prior to joining Atoms full-time, Gupta co-founded the venture capital firm A*, which contributed its largest-ever investment to the robotics startup's recent funding round. Gupta is stepping down from his duties at the investment firm to manage the financial strategy for Atoms as it targets advancements in heavy industries such as extraction, food production, and cargo transport. The startup's technical portfolio has also grown through the acquisition of Pronto, an automated mining company led by another prominent alumnus from the early days of autonomous vehicle development. These moves underscore a concerted effort to leverage established professional networks and substantial capital to scale a highly ambitious physical automation platform.