Petra
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
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Sections to complete：02 · 05
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Petra is a San Francisco robotics/tunnelling startup founded in 2018 by CEO Kim Abrams and CPO Shivani Torres, with Tesla co-founder Ian Wright as CTO. Its semi-autonomous robot Swifty uses non-contact thermal drilling (hot gas and heat above 1,800°F) to bore microtunnels of 18–72 inches through hard rock such as Sioux Quartzite, aiming to make it cheap enough for utilities to bury power and broadband lines underground — starting with wildfire- and hurricane-prone regions. It raised $33 million (a DCVC-led $30 million Series A, with ACME Capital, 8VC and others) and partnered with Tekfen Holding for EMEA projects.
02 / FAILURE REASONS
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03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Company founded
Kim Abrams and Shivani Torres found Petra in San Francisco after the destructive 2018 California fires, pursuing non-contact thermal rock drilling.
- Stealth exit and Series A
Petra emerges from stealth, announcing a $30 million DCVC-led Series A (total funding $33 million); Swifty successfully bores 20 feet through Sioux Quartzite at one inch per minute.
- Tekfen partnership
Tekfen partners with Petra to deploy its hard-rock undergrounding technology across EMEA operations.
- Company active
Petra remains operational, including a 2025 acquisition of Zilper to cover hard rock to soft sands. No shutdown, bankruptcy or acquisition of the company itself has been documented.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN / AFTERMATH
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