Techin' Geek

Kodiak AI’s stock plummeted 37% in after-hours trading on Thursday after the autonomous truck firm revealed it had secured $100 million by issuing shares at a significant discount — indicating that investors are willing to support the company but not at its existing market valuation.

The firm offered shares at $6.50 each, markedly lower than its closing price of $9.10, as per a report to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The financing package also included warrants — options that permit investors to purchase extra shares later at a predetermined price, which could be as low as $6.

The funding originated from current supporter Ares Management alongside several unidentified institutional investors.

This capital influx emerges as Kodiak advances its costly mission of expanding its self-driving truck operations, which span off-road industrial environments and public highways, with the ultimate aim of eventually spending less than it earns. Kodiak declared revenue of $1.8 million for the first quarter, an increase from the $1.4 million reported during the same timeframe last year. The company recorded an operating loss of $37.8 million, double the figure reported for the same period last year.

These figures elucidate why the discount terms unsettled investors. The company is depleting cash swiftly, and although the capital raise is considerable, it hardly alters the financial outlook in the immediate future.

Kodiak has achieved some recent advancements on the business side, including a new commercial agreement with Roehl Transport, a pilot initiative to trial Kodiak-modified autonomous trucks at West Fraser Timber Co.’s log-hauling operations in Alberta, Canada, and a partnership with military vehicle manufacturer General Dynamics Land Systems to develop autonomous ground vehicles for defense uses.

Under the arrangement with Roehl, which was also revealed on Thursday, Kodiak-equipped trucks will autonomously transport freight between Dallas and Houston, completing four round trips weekly. The trucks operate without human intervention for the entire journey, but Kodiak maintains a human safety driver behind the wheel as a precaution.

Kodiak’s founder and CEO Don Burnette stated that the company is on course to transition to driverless trucking on public highways later this year as it scales up operations.

“We have numerous over-the-road long-haul projects, and acquiring new partners continues to indicate momentum,” he stated in an interview. “We’re thrilled about the advancements we’re making as we head towards our driverless launch later this year.”

Currently, Kodiak owns the trucks, supplies the safety driver, and handles freight for Roehl along with its other existing highway customers, which encompass Werner, J.B. Hunt, Bridgestone, Martin Brower, and C.R. England. However, this arrangement will shift once it transitions to driverless trucking operations.

“Our goal is to not own the trucks at that stage [but to] operate our driver-as-a-service model, where [customers] own and manage the trucks,” Burnette explained. He noted that this is the practice it employs with its off-highway client Atlas for its driverless deployment in Texas’ Permian Basin.

While Kodiak intends to remove the safety driver by the end of 2026, Burnette mentioned that it will not commence driverless operations on public highways until it has verified the technology.

“It’s already functioning under all the conditions we anticipate for a driverless launch, but there’s extensive validation work that must be completed, and that’s where our autonomy readiness measure comes into play,” Burnette stated, characterizing the initiative — disclosed Thursday — as a zero-to-100 score tracking the extent of Kodiak’s internal safety validation that is finalized. As of April, Kodiak had achieved 86%, Burnette indicated.

The business, formerly known as Kodiak Robotics, went public in September through a merger with the special-purpose acquisition company Ares Acquisition Corporation II, an associate of Ares Management. The agreement valued the startup around $2.5 billion.

At that time, Kodiak raised $275 million in funds. Over $212.5 million originated from specific institutional investors, including $145 million in PIPE funding (Private Investment in Public Equity, a method through which investors buy shares directly from a public firm) and approximately $62.9 million in trust capital from Ares. That trust capital decreased from its initial $562 million as some SPAC investors redeemed their shares — a typical provision allowing SPAC investors to recover their investments before a merger finalizes.

The Swedish startup Pit has drawn attention for its provocative social media content, but it is also emerging as a notable AI venture from Stockholm.

Pit is spearheaded by the founders of the European scooter company Voi, including Voi’s CEO Fredrik Hjelm. He collaborates with former engineers from iZettle and Klarna. The startup has attracted backing from a16z, which is leading its $16 million seed funding round. Stockholm, home to Lovable, is one of the regions where a16z is keenly searching for the next European unicorn.

Focusing on enterprise AI, Pit aims to develop products that learn how client businesses operate and subsequently create tailored software to automate their processes, as stated by Pit CEO Adam Jafer in an interview with TechCrunch.

Jafer departed from Voi last summer after a seven-year period during which the company grew to a workforce of nearly 1,000 across 13 countries. Drawing from his engineering background, Jafer recognized the maturation of AI for enterprise applications. Initially perceiving an opportunity to substitute basic SaaS tools with internal applications, he soon envisioned a broader opportunity beyond Voi.

“The pivotal moment for recognizing the larger opportunity was when AI models evolved from merely being chatbots that produce text to becoming more proactive and capable,” he shared with TechCrunch. In contrast to competitors who are promoting AI agent development or vibe-coding solutions, Pit positions itself as an “AI product team as a service.”

Entering a saturated market, Pit aims to distinguish itself through two main components: Pit Studio, which empowers enterprise staff to navigate processes suitable for AI-generated software; and Pit Cloud, which, according to the startup, delivers that software while adhering to enterprise standards concerning governance, certifications, and auditability.

As of mid-January, the startup began piloting its strategy with initial customers across telecommunications, healthcare, logistics, and additional sectors, dedicated exclusively to automating internal processes. “No customer interactions, no conversational AI, just straightforward back-office, service, and support operations that we transform into automations, allowing individuals to reclaim time to concentrate on their core business,” Jafer stated.

The startup is gearing up for commercial scaling, ensuring an active approach. In line with the trend of AI enterprises recruiting forward-deployed engineers (FDEs) to facilitate enterprise integration, Pit is likewise hiring solution engineers. The objective, as Jafer mentioned, is to fulfill the demands of their larger clientele. “They seek to purchase results. They wish for processes to accelerate. They desire to witness enhanced productivity and time efficiency,” he noted.

Jafer emphasized that Pit is not advocating itself as a means to diminish human labor or eliminate jobs. “The overarching theme revolves around elevating individuals to undertake more valuable tasks for the business, rather than engaging in repetitive back-office duties.” Success metrics extend beyond mere time and cost savings. “Some aspects involve improving work quality, minimizing human errors, and so forth.”

Nevertheless, Pit’s own employment practices became a topic of debate earlier this year when Jafer posted on LinkedIn stating, “Yes, our team currently has no junior engineers. At Pit, agents now perform most tasks that junior engineers used to handle.”

Although the post remains up, he no longer endorses that stance. “It may have started that way, but a balanced mix is essential as we scale,” he remarked with a smile.

Hjelm expected that the all-male team could prompt scrutiny as well. In a post on X, he remarked that Pit was “founded by tech bros, from Voi and Klarna,” but quickly added, “We also have tech girls on the team, just so you know.” This clarification was not immediately reflected in Pit’s LinkedIn profile, although TechCrunch has conversed with one woman on the communications team at Pit.

What the image conveys, however, is a sentiment of rekindling old friendships. The four co-founders of Voi have remained close, and three are now embarking on this new venture together: Hjelm, Jafer, and Filip Lindvall, who is now a founding engineer at Pit. One of the engineers at the startup, Andreas Hjelm, is indeed the brother of Voi CEO Fredrik Hjelm. 

While Fredrik Hjelm is listed as a co-founder at Pit, he continues as Voi’s CEO, suggesting that his involvement with Pit will be less hands-on for the time being. After achieving profitability in 2024, Voi is seen as a likely IPO candidate, finishing 2025 with impressive results. Nonetheless, his connections as a well-established entrepreneur could still facilitate opportunities — which they already have, specifically with a16z.

In a tweet, Hjelm detailed how a16z partners Alex Rampell and Gabriel Vasquez came to lead Pit’s funding round. He met Ben Horowitz, Gabriel Vasquez, and Jen Kha “a few years back when they visited Stockholm to explore what they could contribute to European tech. We stayed connected. When selecting partners for Pit, we didn’t require funding to initiate, but we desired the most robust supporters we could find. Thus, we chose them, and they chose us.”

Jafer corroborated that Pit did not spend extensive time with other companies to secure its funding, which was also supported by the founders themselves, alongside Lakestar, executives from American tech firms, and affluent families from the Nordic region. This transatlantic capital structure highlights the increasing interest in AI emanating from Stockholm, which has established itself as a vibrant startup hub in Europe. 

Pit may also leverage its European identity for sales advantages. “We are targeting industrial sectors, and there’s an abundance of that in Europe,” Jafer remarked. He also noted that clients value Pit’s adaptable approach. Since it is capable of utilizing various AI and cloud service providers based on client preferences, it could thrive amid the current trend favoring sovereign technology, particularly in crucial fields.

“EU models operating on EU infrastructure is paramount for almost every CIO we engage with,” Jafer stated.

On Tuesday, the education technology leader Instructure revealed a data breach in which hackers accessed students’ sensitive information, such as their names, personal email addresses, and communications exchanged between teachers and students. 

It seems that hackers have once again managed to infiltrate Instructure — this time defacing the login pages of multiple schools using the company’s Canvas platform, designed for schools to oversee coursework and assignments while communicating with students. 

TechCrunch observed a message from the cybercrime group ShinyHunters displayed on the Canvas login pages of three individual schools. An examination of the altered sites revealed that the hackers inserted an HTML file which modified the login interface to present their message.

The message indicates that the hackers plan to release the stolen information on May 12 if the company fails to “negotiate a settlement.”

At the time of this writing, Instructure’s website seemed to be partially operational, frequently returning a “too many requests” error. The Canvas portal issued a notice stating it was “currently undergoing scheduled maintenance.”

Instructure did not promptly respond to TechCrunch’s inquiry for a comment.

ShinyHunters had previously taken responsibility for the initial breach, advertising it on its leak site — a platform utilized by hackers to publish stolen data and coerce victims into paying ransoms — as a means to extort Instructure into paying to prevent the information from becoming public. This evident new breach, along with the hackers’ decision to inform TechCrunch about the defaced login pages, suggests that they are intensifying pressure on Instructure and its clients, aiming to compel them to acquiesce to the hackers’ demands.  

It remains uncertain how the hackers succeeded in compromising the login pages. When questioned, a representative from ShinyHunters informed TechCrunch that they could not provide specifics but noted that this constitutes a second, distinct breach.

Following the initial breach at Instructure, the hackers claimed to have pilfered data from nearly 9,000 schools globally, with the stolen files purportedly containing information on 231 million individuals. 

The group has affected countless victims over the past couple of years, adhering to the same financially incentivized strategy: hack, publicize, and extort.