Kodiak AI’s $100M Cash Infusion Comes at a Cost: Stock Plunges 37%

Kodiak AI took a beating in after-hours trading Thursday after the self-driving truck company revealed it raised $100 million by selling shares at a steep markdown. The stock dropped 37%, a clear signal that while investors are willing to back the company, they’re not buying at current market prices.

The company issued shares at $6.50 each, well below the $9.10 closing price, according to an SEC filing. The round also included warrants allowing investors to buy additional shares at prices as low as $6. Existing backer Ares Management and several unnamed institutional investors participated.

Kodiak needs the cash. The startup reported just $1.8 million in revenue for the first quarter, up from $1.4 million a year earlier, while its operating loss swelled to $37.8 million—double the same period last year. The discount terms reflect investor unease over that burn rate, and the new capital does little to alter the near-term math.

On the business side, Kodiak has been making moves. It inked a commercial deal with Roehl Transport to run autonomous freight between Dallas and Houston—four round trips per week with a safety driver behind the wheel. It’s also piloting self-driving trucks at West Fraser Timber’s log-hauling operations in Alberta and working with General Dynamics Land Systems on military autonomous vehicles.

CEO Don Burnette said the company is on track to remove the safety driver on public highways by the end of 2026, but only after completing internal safety validation. As of April, Kodiak’s readiness score stood at 86%.

Kodiak went public last September via a SPAC merger with an Ares affiliate, valuing the startup at $2.5 billion. The deal initially raised $275 million, though some SPAC investors redeemed their shares before the merger closed.

Source: TechCrunch