Kodiak Robotics names Surajit Datta as chief financial officer

Kodiak Robotics, Inc. announced that Surajit Datta has joined the autonomous vehicle technology company as Chief Financial Officer, effective immediately. Datta will oversee financial operations including planning, accounting, treasury, investor relations, and internal audit.

The appointment comes as Kodiak prepares to become publicly traded through a business combination with Ares Acquisition Corporation II (NYSE: AACT). The company expects to list on NASDAQ in the second half of 2025.

Datta brings more than 20 years of experience in strategic finance, financial planning, corporate development, and investment banking. He most recently served as Vice President of Finance at SentinelOne, a publicly traded cybersecurity firm. Prior to that, he held senior positions at semiconductor company Arm, including Vice President of Finance and Corporate Development.

Datta also spent over a decade in investment banking at Evercore and J.P. Morgan, where he led advisory, debt and equity transactions. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and degrees from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

Datta replaces Eric Chow, who has served as CFO since 2022 and has been with Kodiak since January 2019. Chow plans to remain with the company through the end of 2025 to support the transition.

"Surajit brings significant strategic and operational finance leadership expertise to Kodiak, which will be invaluable to us as we expect to enter the public markets," said Don Burnette, Founder and CEO of Kodiak.

Founded in 2018, Kodiak develops autonomous vehicle technology for commercial trucking and government applications. The company states it became the first to deploy customer-owned driverless trucks in commercial service in 2024.

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