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Jeff Bezos is making a bold bet on a new robotics startup.
What’s happening:
- Autonomous robotics startup Swiss Mile has raised $22M USD in a seed funding round
- The new round was led by Jeff Bezos through Bezos Expeditions and China based venture capital fund HongShan
The big idea:
- Swiss Mile has developed artificial intelligence powered robots that are capable of operating autonomously and quickly learning how to perform repetitive tasks
- Swiss Mile’s robots are able to do multiple types of manual labour including security surveillance, carrying payloads, navigating urban environments and delivering items within a short distance
Why it matters:
- New partnerships and applications for robotics have been accelerating recently, with Major League Baseball stadiums getting in on autonomous robots and fast food giant Shake Shack (NYSE: SHAK) collaborating with Serve Robotics (NASDAQ: SERV) for autonomous deliveries
Going deeper:
- Swiss Mile was originally incubated at the Robotics System Lab at ETH Zurich prior to officially spinning out and becoming its own company
- Amazon’s Industrial Innovation Fund also participated in the seed financing round and has publicly stated they will begin exploring potential ways to leverage Swiss Mile’s technology directly for Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)
- Technology giants Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) were both notable backers of robotics startup Figure, who recently launched their newest humanoid robot alongside of a new partnership with BMW to leverage their robots for manufacturing purposes
The intrigue:
- HongShan was previously known as Sequoia China and was the venture capital arm of Sequoia Capital focused on opportunities in China prior to being spun out as its own separate venture capital fund
