Travis Kalanick’s robotics firm, Atoms, has secured $1.7 billion in a funding round spearheaded by Andreessen Horowitz. Following this investment, Ben Horowitz is set to join the board of the company.

Participants in the round included Bain Capital, Fifth Wall, and several others.

Notably, Uber also participated in the funding round, re-establishing Kalanick’s connection with the company he founded — the same company that ousted him as CEO in 2017 after reports of sexual harassment, discrimination, and a toxic work environment.

Atoms is fundamentally a rebranded holding entity built on the project Kalanick has pursued since departing from Uber, a ghost kitchen initiative known as Cloud Kitchens. When he disclosed the new name in March, Kalanick revealed he had acquired Pronto, an automation firm in the heavy industry sector managed by his former Uber associate Anthony Levandowski.

Kalanick has expressed ambition to delve into mining with Atoms, expanding upon Pronto’s existing operations in that sector. Last year, reports surfaced that Kalanick was interested in acquiring the U.S. division of Chinese self-driving vehicle company Pony AI, with support from Uber. The Information noted in March that those discussions had concluded.

In a post on X regarding the fundraising, Kalanick refrained from detailing specific aspirations for Atoms.

“On various fronts, this round represents a form of unfinished business. Fuel to finalize the bits-to-atoms narrative we initiated at Uber, progressed at CloudKitchens, and will now complete at Atoms,” Kalanick noted. “Sixteen years ago, I embarked on a quest to digitize the physical realm. To understand, anticipate, and manage the physical world through software. Constructing ‘atoms-based’ computers where the CPU comprises manufacturing, the storage is real estate, and the network is transportation.”

Kalanick has stated his intention to create a “wheelbase for robots” with Atoms.

“Travis is Back,” announced a corresponding post from Ben Horowitz on Wednesday. “It requires a unique kind of entrepreneur to transform these traditional, heavyweight sectors of our economy. They must possess a relentless work ethic, determination, and a broad skill set that spans from software design to mechanical engineering. Travis is that individual,” declared Horowitz.

Horowitz mentioned that Atoms will focus on enhancing productivity in the physical world.

“I believe the most significant contribution someone could make with AI and robotics is to replicate what Uber achieved for transportation, or what computers did for the digital domain: to make everything and everyone more productive,” his post articulates.

Although Kalanick didn’t provide specifics, it appears a substantial portion of the funding will be allocated for hiring purposes.

“Changemakers, the architects of tomorrow’s progress machines, will unquestionably face the ultimate challenge, Nature, along with its fierce resistance to transformation. Nature will confront the builders in this new industrial era with everything it has, and it will require humanity’s strongest to maintain course and bring these intricate systems and industries to fruition,” he wrote.