Self-driving truck startup Kodiak Robotics plans to go public by way of a merger with particular goal acquisition firm Ares Acquisition Corporation II.
The transaction values Kodiak, which has raised round $243 million thus far, at about $2.5 billion pre-money. New and current Kodiak institutional traders, like Soros Fund Management, ARK Investments, and Ares, have funded or dedicated over $110 million in financing to assist the transaction, in addition to about $551 million of money held in belief.
The deal is anticipated to shut within the second half of 2025.
Going public by way of SPAC is an attention-grabbing transfer at a time when the self-driving truck area has skilled some main hits, together with high-profile gamers like Embark and TuSimple shutting down. SPACs have additionally misplaced a lot of their luster from the heyday of 2021, particularly for capital-intensive corporations like AV and EV startups.
Kodiak does have one thing going for it, no less than. It is revenue-generating, albeit that income is probably going minimal. Kodiak, which says it has pushed 2.6 million miles autonomously, finally desires to commercialize long-haul trucking operations. In the short-term, the corporate has pursued off-road autonomy as a faster path to market.
In January, Kodiak delivered its first two autonomous vans to buyer Atlas Energy Solutions, marking its first industrial launch. Atlas has dedicated to purchasing an preliminary order of 100 vans to help its operations delivering frac sand in West Texas’s distant Permian Basin.
That little bit of income validates Kodiak’s know-how greater than pre-revenue startups, which have made up the majority of SPAC mergers over the previous few years, and it may open up the door to PIPE investments. That stated, the trail to profitability is an extended one, and the capital wants of autonomy are huge.
TechCrunch reached out to Kodiak to be taught extra about how lengthy their present runway is however didn’t obtain an instantaneous response.
Kodiak’s public market debut comes throughout a turbulent interval within the public markets, largely as a result of President Trump’s tariffs and the following commerce struggle. It additionally comes as one among Kodiak’s foremost opponents, Aurora Innovation, is slated to start totally driverless industrial trucking operations this month.
Kodiak CEO Don Burnette co-founded the corporate in 2018 after years of expertise in autonomous driving. He beforehand labored on self-driving tech at Google earlier than leaving in early 2016 to assist launch Otto, an AV startup based alongside Anthony Levandowski, Lior Ron, and Claire Delaunay. Otto was rapidly acquired by Uber, however issues unraveled rapidly as Waymo sued Uber, accusing Levandowski of commerce secret theft. Uber finally settled with Waymo, and Levandowski was later criminally charged and pleaded responsible. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail however pardoned by President Trump earlier than serving time.
Burnette, who had already left Otto earlier than the Levandowski drama, managed to keep away from the fallout and pursue his foremost aim — his thesis was that trucking can be the killer app for autonomy.
“We imagine coming into the general public markets will speed up our technique to increase our current accomplice relationships, present our know-how to a broader buyer base, and ship enhanced options throughout the industrial trucking and public sector industries,” Burnette stated in an announcement.
