From Yahoo Finance: 2025-04-15 10:30:00

Kodiak Robotics has agreed to go public via a business combination with Ares Acquisition Corp. II, making Kodiak a publicly listed company valued at around $2.5 billion. Institutional investors have funded or committed to over $110 million in financing in addition to approximately $551 million in cash.

The deal between Kodiak Robotics and Ares Acquisition Corp. II was confirmed after rumors surfaced last month. David Kaplan, CEO of Ares, raised $450 million for the blank check firm in April 2023. Kodiak founder, Don Burnette, previously worked for Google’s self-driving car project and later founded Otto, a self-driving truck startup acquired by Uber.

Kodiak’s first-to-market fully active driverless truck operation from its partnership with Atlas Energy Solutions in the Permian Basin has completed the delivery of 100 loads with two RoboTrucks equipped with Kodiak Driver. Over 750 hours of commercial driverless operations have been achieved, with Atlas committing to an initial order of 100 trucks.

Kodiak’s business model involves a Driver-as-a-Service approach, charging customers based on a per-truck or per-mile recurring license fee. The company has collaborations with various companies and a Department of Defense contract for approximately $30 million to adapt its autonomous technology for U.S. Army vehicles.

The autonomous freight industry, in which Kodiak primarily operates in the Sunbelt, is projected to be a lucrative market with an estimated $1 trillion opportunity in the U.S. alone and a global addressable market of over $4 trillion.

Read more: Kodiak Robotics going public via SPAC