Kodiak To Go Public!

Very exciting news hit the wire this morning!

Kodiak has signed a business combination agreement with Ares Acquisition Corp II (NYSE: AACT), a key step toward going public. A new chapter in scaling Kodiak’s driverless tech across trucking and public sector is beginning.

Learn about the transaction – https://t.co/U53rxxKs3h

— Kodiak (@KodiakRobotics) April 14, 2025

Here are some quotes from the press release that are especially important to me:

First to Market With Fully Active Driverless Semi-Truck Operations: Through its partnership with Atlas Energy Solutions (“Atlas”), Kodiak-powered driverless trucks have surpassed 750 hours of commercial driverless operations across West Texas’s Permian Basin without a human driver on board. This milestone marks the first publicly announced deployment of customer-owned autonomous semi-trucks in real-world operations. Kodiak expects to support Atlas in further expanding its fleet in 2025; in March 2025, the Company secured a firm commitment from Atlas to order an initial 100 trucks, after exceeding key performance and operational milestones.

New and existing Kodiak institutional investors including Soros Fund Management, ARK Investments and Ares have funded or committed over $110 million in financing to support the transaction alongside approximately $551 million of cash held in trust

Kodiak has secured a firm commitment from its strategic partner, Atlas Energy Solutions (NYSE: AESI), for an initial order of 100 trucks

Additional information about the proposed business combination will be described in the registration statement on Form S-4 relating to the transaction (the “Registration Statement”), which AACT and Kodiak will file with the SEC.