Amazon acquires Swiss robotics startup RIVR, ushering in a new era of global "doorstep delivery"

Recently, Amazon completed the acquisition of Swiss robotics startup "RIVR". The RIVR team will join Amazon to start a new chapter.

Linear Capital was the lead investor in the first round of "RIVR" and increased its investment in subsequent rounds. In 2023, the Linear team went to Zurich to explore the top innovations at ETH and finally met Marko and his team.

Regarding this acquisition, Wang Huai, the founder and CEO of Linear Capital, said, "We trusted and respected Marko and his team. We drank and recited poems together. This journey of walking side by side is extremely precious. I believe that with Amazon's support, Marko's team will, in their own way, promote the real implementation of Physical AI and create more profound value for our common human future."

Recently, Swiss robotics startup "RIVR" announced that it has been acquired by Amazon. The RIVR team will join Amazon to start a new chapter.

Marko Bjelonic, the founder of RIVR, said, "This development will accelerate our vision of building general physical artificial intelligence through last - mile delivery, pushing robotics and artificial intelligence technologies one step closer to large - scale real - world deployment. I am extremely proud of all the achievements of RIVR and am even more looking forward to the goals we will jointly achieve at Amazon."

RIVR was founded in April 2023 and is headquartered in Zurich. It was formerly known as Swiss - Mile. In November 2023, RIVR completed its first - round financing led by Linear Capital, with Mind Motion Robotics following as a co - investor. In August 2024, RIVR received a joint investment from Amazon, Bezos Expeditions, the fund of Jeff Bezos, Sequoia China, etc. Linear Capital continued to increase its investment.

RIVR is committed to building general physical artificial intelligence by deploying autonomous wheel - legged robots for door - to - door delivery in real - world environments. A large amount of data is generated during each delivery by the robotic dog. This data combines large - scale reinforcement learning in simulated environments with self - supervised learning in the real world to continuously optimize its artificial intelligence. RIVR has a complete technology stack from software to hardware, ensuring high reliability, safety, and cost - effectiveness from the design stage, paving the way for the large - scale application of physical artificial intelligence.

RIVR's robotic dogs use four wheel - legs to cruise on streets, stairs, and other scenarios. Last year, Just Eat Takeaway, the largest food delivery platform in Europe, announced a cooperation with RIVR to introduce RIVR's fully automated food delivery robots to the European market. RIVR also cooperated with logistics startup Veho on a pilot project to test the use of RIVR for express delivery. RIVR stores express parcels and takeaways in the torso of the robotic dog and reaches the customer's doorstep or a designated location in the yard through its all - terrain mobility, achieving automated last - mile delivery.

For couriers, they can carry these robotic dogs in their vehicles and let the robotic dogs handle the last - mile delivery of parcels to improve the efficiency of each delivery. RIVR has its own self - developed artificial intelligence model and uses its own data collection to train the robots.

Amazon recently shared this news with its suppliers providing last - mile delivery services. This acquisition will enable this global e - commerce logistics giant to further explore how to integrate robotics technology into their actual operations.

Regarding this acquisition, Wang Huai, the founder and CEO of Linear Capital, said:

"Three years ago, we went to Zurich to explore the top innovations at ETH and finally met Marko and his team. They redefined wheeled robots with real - to - sim - to - real technology and completed an excellent Global Arbitrage with their global vision and resource integration ability.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Linear Capital", and is published by 36Kr with authorization.