Amazon hires the founders of industrial robot maker Covariant and ~25% of its staff, and signs a non-exclusive license to Covariant's robotic foundation models
Amazon is hiring three of the founders from Covariant, a Bay Area startup that develops AI for advanced warehouse robotics systems.
GeekWire Taylor Soper
Related Coverage
- An update on how we're accelerating the use of AI in robotics at scale About Amazon
- Amazon hires the founders of AI robotics startup Covariant TechCrunch · Anthony Ha
- Amazon acqui-hires Covariant for foundational robotics models and key AI talent The Decoder · Matthias Bastian
- Amazon to Hire Covariant Founders to Expand Warehouse Automation Bloomberg
- Covariant Founders Will Join Amazon in Latest Acqui-Hire The Information · Kate Clark
- Introducing the next phase of our AI Robotics journey Covariant
- Robotics is hard enough, AI+ Robotics is another level. This was probably the best team that could have built a big company in this space. … Pramod Gosavi
- This is an interesting development! — We heard rumors about this a few months back!! — A few things I am thinking on why this direction was taken: … Parth Pethani
Discussion
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@zck
Zak Kukoff
on x
Another talent heist yesterday as Amazon hires the founders of Covariant (worth $625M) and 25% of their staff Covariant previously raised $222M from investors including Index. What happens to the remaining 75% of employees and investors?
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@8teapi
@8teapi
on x
Because of the FTC's Instagram regret, the polite fiction of the acquihire is no more. Now we get to see teams hired separately from the products they built. So what is actually valuable in those companies is the machine that built the machine.. not the machine itself.
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@peterhndrsn
Peter Henderson
on x
Yet another hire+license deal in AI, avoiding real acquisition. Seems like Big Tech's new playbook to sidestep @FTC merger scrutiny. I'd very much like to know the terms of these deals. Are remaining workers/investors left high and dry? https://www.aboutamazon.com/ ...
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@jason
@jason
on x
Capitalism finds a way @linakhanFTC You stop M&A, the industry does licensing deals 🤷 [image]
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@keerthanpg
Keerthana Gopalakrishnan
on x
Employees take a lot of risk joining a start up & as acquihires become more widespread most will be left holding the bag, including investors. These deals will change the startup ecosystem fundamentally. Upsetting to see the trend hitting robotics too. https://www.aboutamazon.com…
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r/berkeley
r
on reddit
Covariant AI, company founded by Berkeley PhDs and Professor reverse acquihired by Amazon