Atoms Hires Former Uber CFO Gautam Gupta After $1.7 Billion Funding Round

Travis Kalanick’s robotics and industrial artificial intelligence startup Atoms has appointed former Uber finance chief Gautam Gupta as its new chief financial officer, adding another longtime executive from Kalanick’s Uber leadership team just weeks after raising $1.7 billion in fresh funding.

Gupta announced the move on social media, marking his return to work alongside Kalanick nearly a decade after both departed Uber in 2017. Gupta served as Uber’s finance chief for more than four years before leaving shortly after Kalanick stepped down as chief executive.

The appointment continues Kalanick’s strategy of recruiting former Uber executives to Atoms, formerly known as CloudKitchens. Earlier this year, the company acquired mining autonomy startup Pronto, led by former Uber and Google self-driving engineer Anthony Levandowski. Several other former Uber executives also now hold positions at Atoms.

Building on Uber-era ambitions

When announcing Atoms’ $1.7 billion funding round last month, Kalanick described the investment as an opportunity to complete the “bits-to-atoms” vision he said began during his time at Uber and continued through CloudKitchens before evolving into Atoms.

Uber also participated in the funding round, reuniting with its former founder after pushing him out of the company in 2017. While Uber has not publicly disclosed the size of its investment, reports have placed the contribution at approximately $100 million.

Gupta leaves venture capital for operating role.

Before joining Atoms, Gupta co-founded venture capital firm A* in 2020 after spending several years at Opendoor. He said A* made its largest-ever investment in Atoms before he decided to step down from the firm to become thestartup’ss chief financial officer.

Reflecting on his earlier decision to join Uber in 2013 after first investing in the company while at Goldman Sachs, Gupta said Kalanick’s combination of vision and determination convinced him to back the entrepreneur rather than simply the market opportunity. At Atoms, Kalanick has said the company is focused on robotics and industrial AI across sectors including mining, food and transportation.