Gatik AI has been a stealthy startup for autonomous vehicles since its inception. It has launched pilots with Walmart Canada and Loblaw to show that self-driving technology with box trucks can be used to transport goods short distances.
The company has now expanded into Texas, its fourth market, with a new bundle of capital. Gatik announced Tuesday that it raised $85 Million in a Series A round, led by Koch Disruptive Technologies (Koch Industries' venture arm). Participated were existing investors Innovation Endeavours (Witington Ventures), FM Capital, Dynamo Ventures. Trucks VC and Intact Ventures. Gatik has raised $114.5 Million to date.
We are in expansion mode in growth mode, and felt Koch Industries would be the most valuable, Gatik CEO Gautam Narang, co-founder of Gatik, stated in a recent interview. He also said that he considers Koch Industries a strategic investor.
Gatik has been shipping goods for Walmart in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Ontario, Canada as part of pilot programs. Gatik formed a partnership with Isuzu to produce medium-duty autonomous trucks in mass production by 2023.
Gatik doesn't target consumers, unlike other autonomous delivery companies. Gatik uses its autonomous trucks to transport groceries and other goods from large distribution centres to retail locations. Gatik, for example, uses five boxes trucks to transport goods for Loblaw. Gatik removed the human safety driver from one Arkansas route, which means that some of the autonomous boxes trucks that were used to transport goods for Loblaw are now driverless.
Gatik announced that it has opened an autonomous trucking center in AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone. This 26,000-acre development is a hub for transportation and logistics. It already transports freight for several customers but declined to identify them. Narang stated that trucks used in Texas are built on Isuzu platforms.
Narang stated that the company will be present in many cities throughout Texas.
The company's decision to move to Texas comes after other autonomous vehicle technology companies like Aurora, Kodiak Robotics and TuSimple, which have established offices in Texas. Texas's international shipping hub status, favorable weather and regulatory environment prompted the decision to expand in Texas. Narang said that it will be able to manage multiple tenants because of the many potential customers. It can also use the same truck for multiple customers throughout the day.
This funding will be used to add vehicles to the fleet of Class 3 and 6 multi-temperature autonomous truck trucks, as well as hire more workers in Texas. Gatik currently has around 70 employees spread across its headquarters in Palo Alto and the engineering center in Toronto, as well as operations in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Arkansas.
Narang stated that they intend to increase the number of employees by around 150 in the next six- to nine months.
