Self-driving trucking company Kodiak Robotics has raised US$125m in an oversubscribed Series B fundraising round taking total investment to date to US$165m. The round saw funding from multiple investors, including SIP Global Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Battery Ventures and Walleye Capital, among others. Recent investments previously announced include Bridgestone Americas and BMW I Ventures.
“Our Series B drives us into hyper-growth so we can double our team, our fleet, and continue to scale our business,” said Don Burnette, founder and CEO, Kodiak Robotics. “We have engineered our industry-leading technology, the Kodiak Driver, in half the time and a fraction of the cost of our competitors. The supply chain challenges we have seen over the last 18 months only underscore the importance of autonomous trucking to the future of America’s economy. With the Series B, we will further accelerate towards launching our commercial self-driving service with our partners in the coming years to help address these critical challenges.”
Kodiak is building the industry’s most advanced technology stack purpose-built specifically for long-haul trucks. The company will use the Series B funds over the next 12 months to double employee headcount by adding at least 85 new people to the team, expand autonomous service capabilities from coast to coast, and add a minimum of 15 new trucks for a total of at least 25 autonomous vehicles.
Kodiak has shown significant momentum in 2021. The company recently unveiled its next-generation autonomous trucks, which use a modular and discrete sensor approach to vastly simplify installation and maintenance, while increasing safety. Kodiak hauls freight daily for a range of industry partners, including some of the nation’s largest carriers and brands, and has done so since 2019.