Gatik closes $200M round tied to PepsiCo partnership
Gatik, the autonomous vehicle startup that runs commercial driverless box trucks, raised $200 million just two months after striking a multi-year commercial agreement with PepsiCo. The round was led by Qatar Investment Authority and Koch Disruptive Technologies, with participation from Millennium Management, ARK Invest, and Intact Private Capital. The Santa Clara, California-based company has now raised about $500 million since emerging from stealth in 2019, and did not disclose its valuation.
Why the PepsiCo tie-up anchors the raise
Gatik's largest public partnership is with PepsiCo, where 41 driverless box trucks shuttle Cheetos, Doritos, and other Frito-Lay products from distribution centers to stores in Dallas, Phoenix and Northwest Arkansas. Co-founder and CEO Gautam Narang said the new funding will allow the company to scale faster and expand beyond its current 350-person workforce, with plans to hire engineers and operational staff and enter new markets or deepen its presence in existing ones. He added that Gatik has locked in commercial deals worth $600 million in contracted revenue, and that the investor base is built for the long haul.
Middle-mile focus sets Gatik apart in autonomous freight
Gatik has carved out a niche in short-haul delivery, building a fleet of driverless box trucks that began with fixed routes under 10 miles and grew into dynamic routes with dozens of pickup and drop-off locations covering up to 400 miles. The company reached a critical technical and operational milestone last year by removing the safety driver from commercial routes, and now runs dozens of fully driverless trucks across several markets. Its third-generation trucks operate around the clock on surface streets and highways and can handle light rain and snow. Other customers include Loblaw and Walmart, with past deliveries completed for Kroger and Tyson Foods.
Other developments
Separately, PepsiCo shares fell 1.17% in Tuesday trading, according to a Zacks analysis tagged to the same session, though the report's text was not retrievable and the broader market context behind the move was not available in the source set.
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