Silicon Valley startup, Gatik, is developing an independent robotic delivery service on a fixed route. The startup bagged its largest cash injection of $85 million in a funding round that was led by the Koch Industries’ Investment division that will facilitate an expansion of the former’s operations. The investment will help procure more staff and multiply its truck fleet.
The Palo Alto-based firm already boasts a magnanimous revenue through the haulage of consumer goods and groceries. The delivery service is facilitated by robotic trucks. The company is tied up with Walmart in Arkansas, Canadian Loblaw Supermarkets in Toronto, and Walmart in Louisiana.
Gatik is now initiating its expansion in the Texan market. The firm’s missions include an operation of 20-foot and 26-foot box trucks out of the facilities that it is establishing close to the Fort Worth airport in Texas. This operation will be a part of the Texan Mobility Innovation Zone.
Gatik has raised a whopping $114.5 million since its conception in 2017. The recent funding round allows the company to be in a scalable position.
CEO & Co-founder, Gautam Narang, stated that the firm has done complete justice to its business ideologies by strategically associating itself with companies and by using the most updated technology.
Delivery services have the most growth potential and have been the fast-developing facet in the independent driving industry. For the past two years, the firm’s operations have been envisioned as a more efficient version of robot-taxi services and are estimated to generate huge revenue in the next couple of years.
Unlike its competitors like TuSimple (develops robotic semis for long-duration highway delivery services) and Nuro (grocery and food delivery robots), Gatik targets delivering goods for businesses regularly via fixed routes with almost no variation in the schedule.
Gatik’s recent investment funding round
The recently held financing round has given the firm a comfortable runway of approximately two to three years. Gatik has been contacted by interested and potential partners about being public through a SPAC merger. However, the firm hasn’t revealed any instantaneous plans of the same. Gatik’s income from robotic truck delivery is peaking. Thus, the pressure on becoming a listed company is down to a minimum.
Narang stated that the firm will develop a significant revenue in the coming years. In 2020, Gatik boasted an income in millions. This year, the company is projecting to increase the revenue generated by 400% in every consecutive year.
Koch Industries’ investment division, Koch Disruptive Technologies, led the financing round that was inclusive of a bench of existing investors like – Wittington Ventures, FM Capital, Innovation Endeavors, Trucks VC, Intact Ventures, Dynamo Ventures, and other participants.
Chase Koch, President of Koch Disruptive Technologies, stated that Gatik’s progressive and independent technology coupled with a global standard team is redefining the scene in B2B logistics. He also indicated that the firm’s strategies to solve the most evident problems faced by the contemporary supply chain services have also been a boon to the industry.
Gatik has been collaborating with Isuzu to release a fleet of commercial independent delivery vehicles by the year 2023. It intends to expand its present 20-vehicle line to approximately 100 units by this year-end.
The firm has made important technological advancements in 2020, to a point wherein it is presently operating some fully driverless robotic trucks in Arkansas. Narang pointed out that these operations were not merely demos, but a full-fledged success in the working of the robotic trucks.
In the technology sector, Gatik boasts a valuable position owing to its validation of the technology in a singular market. The firm aims to target an expansion from this point onwards.