INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Tim Kentley-Klay, the co-founder and CEO of secretive self-driving vehicle company Zoox, was fired suddenly Wednesday by the company
board.
Kentley-Klay departure was firstreported by The Information, which cited an unnamed source
Kentley-Klay later tweeted a statement confirming that he had been fired by the board.
Kentley-Klay and Zoox could not be reached for
TechCrunch will update the story as it develops.
Cheers to the most legendary crew, ever
pic.twitter.com/STNUV3fFC9
mdash; Tim Kentley-Klay (@TimKentleyKlay) August 22, 2018
In the tweet, Kentley-Klay wrote:
I came to this town
as a founder only to build the future of mobility, and by the metrics shared here was crushing it against the biggest
But the shocking reality is that this—without a warning, cause or right of reply—the board fired me
Today was Silicon Valley up to its worst tricks
This town sells the story that it backs founders to create real change
Rather than working through the issues in an epic startup for the win, the board chose a path of fear, optimizing for a little money in hand
at the expense of profound progress for the Universe
Cheers to the true believers that have built Zoox from scratch these last four years
Don''t let anyone stand between you and what you know is right
TKK.
He also posted a graphic comparing the capital efficiency of top autonomous vehicle programs like Waymo, Uber, and Cruise with
Zoox.
Kentley-Klay has since posted more than a dozen tweets, quoting others who have contacted him to express support and disappointment
He doesn''t name anyone, but the presumption is that these are Zoox employees.
The firing comes just a month after Zoox closed a massive
$500 million funding roundat a $3.2 billion post-money valuation.The round, led by Mike Cannon-Brookes of Grok Ventures, brings its total
amount of funding to $800 million.
Kentley-Klay founded Zoox with Jesse Levinson about four years ago
The company is infamous for its secrecy
The first real inside look into the company, and Kentley-Klay, came just a month ago in a feature by Bloomberg Ashlee Vance.
The company,
which employs about 500 people, wants to deploy autonomous vehicles on public streets and launch a ride-hailing service with its fleet by
