Self-driving truck startup Kodiak Robotics plans to go public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company Ares Acquisition Corporation II.
The transaction values Kodiak, which has raised around $243 million to date, at about $2.5 billion pre-money. New and existing Kodiak institutional investors, like Soros Fund Management, ARK Investments, and Ares, have funded or committed over $110 million in financing to support the transaction, as well as about $551 million of cash held in trust.
The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2025.
Going public via SPAC is an interesting move at a time when the self-driving truck space has experienced some major hits, including high-profile players like Embark and TuSimple shutting down. SPACs have also lost much of their luster from the heyday of 2021, especially for capital-intensive companies like AV and EV startups.
Kodiak does have something going for it, at least. It is revenue-generating, albeit that revenue is likely minimal. Kodiak, which says it has driven 2.6 million miles autonomously, eventually wants to commercialize long-haul trucking operations. In the short-term, the company has pursued off-road autonomy as a quicker path to market.
In January, Kodiak delivered its first two autonomous trucks to customer Atlas Energy Solutions, marking its first commercial launch. Atlas has committed to buying an initial order of 100 trucks to aid its operations delivering frac sand in West Texas’ remote Permian Basin.
That bit of revenue validates Kodiak’s technology more than pre-revenue startups, which have made up the bulk of SPAC mergers over the past few years, and it could open the door to PIPE investments. That said, the path to profitability is a long one, and the capital needs of autonomy are massive.
TechCrunch reached out to Kodiak to learn more about how long their current runway is but did not receive an immediate response.
Kodiak’s public market debut comes during a turbulent period in the public markets, in large part due to President Trump’s tariffs and the ensuing trade war. It also comes as one of Kodiak’s main competitors, Aurora Innovation, is slated to begin fully driverless commercial trucking operations this month.
Kodiak CEO Don Burnette co-founded the company in 2018 after years of experience in autonomous driving. He previously worked on self-driving tech at Google before leaving in early 2016 to help launch Otto, an AV startup founded alongside Anthony Levandowski, Lior Ron, and Claire Delaunay. Otto was acquired by Uber, but things unraveled quickly as Waymo sued Uber, accusing Levandowski of trade secret theft. Uber eventually settled with Waymo, and Levandowski was later criminally charged and pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison but pardoned by President Trump before serving time.
Burnette, who had already left Otto before the Levandowski drama, managed to avoid the fallout and pursue his main goal — his thesis was that trucking would be the killer app for autonomy.
“We believe entering the public markets will accelerate our strategy to expand our existing partner relationships, provide our technology to a broader customer base, and deliver enhanced solutions across the commercial trucking and public sector industries,” Burnette said in a statement.
