Kodiak Robotics has become a publicly traded company, having completed its business combination with Ares Acquisition Corporation II (AACT), a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), following approval by AACT shareholders. Kodiak AI began trading on NASDAQ on September 25 and was valued at US$2.5bn.
In connection with the merger, Kodiak raised over US$212.5m from institutional investors, including US$145m through PIPE financing and about US$62.9m in trust cash, before expenses.
“The transportation industry faces growing challenges, including safety risks, rising costs and driver shortages,” said Don Burnette, founder and CEO of Kodiak. “Going public with the support of our partners at AACT marks an important step in Kodiak’s journey to help transform how freight moves by providing our driverless solution to customers.
“The Kodiak Driver is already on the road, safely and reliably delivering freight every day for paying customers without a human in the cab. Our driverless operations show that autonomy is no longer a future promise but a reality today.
“Thanks to our Kodiak team members for their extraordinary dedication in helping us achieve this milestone, and I am eager to begin our next chapter as a public company with the support of our new and existing investors.”
Kodiak’s AI-powered autonomous driving system, the Kodiak Driver, is designed to help address critical challenges in the trucking industry and the public sector. It combines advanced AI-powered software with a modular hardware system designed to integrate into customers’ existing fleets and leverages learnings from real-world experience – it draws on approximately 3 million on-road autonomous miles and over 3,000 paid driverless hours of logged data to date – to enhance AI models, thereby increasing reliability and efficiency across a wide range of environments.
“When we launched AACT, we set out to find a differentiated business primed for commercial growth and well-positioned to enter the public markets,” said Allyson Satin, chief operating officer of AACT and partner at Ares Management Corporation.
“Kodiak has distinguished itself through its innovative technology, which is already integrated into customer fleets and utilized for daily, revenue-generating driverless freight operations. We are confident in Don and his team as they continue to execute on their strategy to scale as a public company, improve the safety and efficiency of the freight industry and create long-term value for investors. On behalf of AACT and Ares, I want to congratulate the entire Kodiak organization, and we look forward to our continued partnership.”
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