Uber co-founder Kalanick: we’re ready for Saudi IPO of Atoms

• Latest venture is robotics and AI
• Focuses on ‘ecommerce for food’
• Listing delayed by Iran conflict

Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick has told AGBI that his latest Middle Eastern venture is ready to list on the Saudi stock market.

Kalanick, the CEO and founder of AI and robotics company Atoms, said that he does not have a timeline for an IPO but that it will happen when the conditions become favourable.

“We tried to go public in the Saudi market in Q1, but for obvious reasons – with the conflict, etc – we got to a place where it just wasn’t possible,” he said.

IPOs have tailed off across the GCC following the outbreak of hostilities, with the number of new listings in Saudi falling to an eight-year low in the first half of this year. Only two IPOs were completed in H1, raising just $122 million.

The Capital Markets Authority has not yet announced that it has granted Atoms permission to list on the exchange, but Kalanick said that preparations are in the works.

“We’re waiting to see,” he said. “But the business keeps growing.”

Kalanick made his name with California-based ride-hailing app Uber. He was forced to resign as CEO in 2017, which left him “heartbroken”, he wrote on Atoms’ website. The departure came following a high-stakes investor revolt triggered by months of corporate scandals, regulatory battles and widespread allegations of a toxic workplace culture.

He lists the mission of his latest venture, which he unveiled in March as “physical automation to transform industry and move the world”.

• The macro risks lurking beneath the peace deal
• Investors crave normality before backing the Gulf
• The Gulf’s SpaceX gamble is about to deliver in stratospheric fashion

Most of Atoms’ activities are in what Kalanick calls “ecommerce for food”, which includes cloud kitchens, food robotics and autonomous food carriers.

“We’ve got a pretty big business in Saudi on that front,” he said.

The company also has interests in autonomous vehicles and in mining, where it works with state-owned mining company Maaden.

Kalanick, who was granted Saudi citizenship in October last year, declined to say which of these streams is the company’s primary focus.

“Never ask a parent who’s his favourite child,” he said.