Gatik secures $200 million to scale driverless middle-mile delivery
Autonomous trucking company Gatik has raised $200 million in its largest funding round to expand its commercial driverless box-truck operations. The financing follows a multi-year commercial agreement with PepsiCo and brings the Santa Clara, California-based company’s total funding to about $500 million since it emerged from stealth in 2019.
Qatar Investment Authority and Koch Disruptive Technologies led the round. Millennium Management, ARK Invest and Intact Private Capital also participated. Gatik did not disclose its valuation.
Funding follows commercial deployment progress
Gatik is focused on middle-mile logistics: moving goods between distribution centres and stores rather than operating robotaxis, long-haul autonomous big rigs or sidewalk delivery robots. It began with fixed routes under 10 miles and has expanded to dynamic routes with dozens of pick-up and drop-off points spanning as much as 400 miles.
The company says it now operates dozens of fully driverless trucks commercially in several markets. Last year it reached the technical and operational milestone needed to remove the safety driver from commercial routes.
Its third-generation self-driving trucks can run around the clock on surface streets and highways, and are designed to operate in light rain and snow. Gautam Narang, Gatik’s co-founder and chief executive, said the latest technology generation has matured substantially in recent years.
PepsiCo fleet underpins the expansion plan
Gatik’s largest publicly announced partnership is with PepsiCo. Under that deployment, 41 driverless box trucks move Cheetos, Doritos and other Frito-Lay products from distribution centres to stores in Dallas, Phoenix and Northwest Arkansas.
The company also counts Loblaw and Walmart among its customers, and has completed deliveries for Kroger and Tyson Foods. Narang said Gatik has locked in commercial agreements representing $600 million in contracted revenue.
The new capital is intended to support hiring of engineers and operational personnel, while enabling expansion into new markets and deeper operations in existing ones. Gatik currently has a workforce of about 350 people.
What the round signals for logistics operators
The investment reflects a shift in Gatik’s stated position from a company running a small number of pilots to one operating driverless services for multiple customers and cities. Its investors are positioned as long-term financial partners for the company’s planned scale-up.
For businesses evaluating autonomous logistics, the practical implication is to examine the specific routes, weather conditions, fleet deployment and contracted service model behind a provider’s claims, rather than treating autonomous delivery as a single, uniform capability.