Autonomous truck startup Kodiak Robotics is set to be made public through a merger with special purpose acquisition company ARES Acquisition Corporation.
The transaction is worth Kodiak, which has raised about $243 million so far, and is primoney of around $2.5 billion. New and existing Kodiak institutional investors such as Soros Fund Management, Ark Investments and ARES have funded or committed to more than $110 million in funding to support the transaction.
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2025.
To unveil via SPAC is an interesting move when self-driving truck space has experienced several major hits, including well-known players such as Embark and Tusimple Shutting. SPAC has lost much of its sheen since its heyday in 2021, especially in capital-intensive companies such as AV and EV startups.
There’s at least something about Kodiak. It’s about generating revenue, although it’s likely to be minimal. Kodiak says it has autonomously driven 2.6 million miles, but ultimately hopes to commercialize its long-distance trucking business. In the short term, the company pursues off-road autonomy as a faster path to the market.
In January, Kodiak delivered its first two self-driving trucks to customer Atlas Energy Solutions, marking its first commercial launch. Atlas has pledged to purchase initial orders of 100 trucks to assist in the work of providing Frac Sands in the remote Permian Basin of West Texas.
This revenue could validate Kodiak’s technology beyond pre-revenue startups, which have been a major part of SPAC mergers over the past few years, and open the door to the investment pipe. However, the path to profitability is long and the capital needs of autonomy are huge.
TechCrunch contacted Kodiak to learn more about the current runway duration, but there was no immediate response.
Kodiak’s open market debut comes in an era of turbulence in the public market due to the president’s tariffs and subsequent trade wars. Also, one of Kodiak’s major competitors, Aurora Innovation, is set to begin operating completely unmanned commercial trucks this month.
Kodiak CEO Don Burnette co-founded the company in 2018 after years of experience in autonomous driving. He previously worked on autonomous driving technology at Google and then helped launch Otto, an AV startup founded with ANThony Levandowski, Lior Ron and Claire Delaunay to set up in early 2016. Otto was bought by Uber, but things quickly unraveled as Waymo sued Uber and accused Levandowski of theft of a trade secret. Uber eventually settled in Waymo, and Levandowski was later charged with criminal charges and pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, but was forgiven by President Trump before he could spend time.
Already leaving Otto before the Lewandowsky drama, Burnett was able to avoid fallout and pursue his main goal. His paper was that trucking would become a killer app for autonomy.
“We believe entry into the open market will accelerate our strategy of expanding existing partnerships, providing technology to a broader customer base and providing enhanced solutions across commercial trucking and public sector industries,” Burnett said in a statement.