Report: Amazon and Bezos Expeditions to Back Robot-Maker Swiss-Mile
Swiss-Mile, which makes robots for logistics and other use cases, has raised $22 million in a seed funding round from investors that include Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, Bezos Expeditions, HongShan, Armada Investment and Linear Capital.
The company was incorporated in 2023 and has developed wheel-legged robots with autonomy that’s driven by artificial intelligence (AI), Swiss-Mile said in a press release emailed to PYMNTS.
Swiss-Mile aims to offers these autonomous robots to “relieve humanity from strenuous and tedious tasks,” it said in the release.
“The company joins forces with world-class talent in embodied AI and robotics, tackling the most challenging aspects of mobility, autonomy and manipulation,” Swiss-Mile said in the release. “In the first year, they achieved early successes with pilot deployments among key customers, including last-mile delivery in smart cities and security for critical infrastructure.”
The robots’ use cases include carrying goods for logistics operations, spotting safety hazards and mistakes for construction companies, monitoring facilities, patrolling and reporting anomalies to security teams, according to the Swiss-Mile website.
“We empower wheel-legged robots to navigate and perform tasks across diverse environments, transforming efficiency in various industries,” the company said on its website. “With the potential to address labor shortages, cut costs, enhance insights and prioritize safety, autonomous robots can tailor solutions to optimize your specific processes.”
It was reported in February that the Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund was ramping up investments in companies that combine AI and robotics.
Amazon is focusing on this area in a move to drive efficiencies across its logistics network, Franziska Bossart, head of the corporate venture capital arm, told the Financial Times in a report posted Feb. 28.
This investment strategy underscores Amazon’s dedication to making innovations in robotics, as seen in previous investments in industrial robotics and sorting systems in European warehouses, where 750,000 mobile robots are already in operation, according to the report.
In July, Skild AI said it raised $300 million in a Series A funding round to build an AI model for robotics that will power a variety of robots, scenarios and tasks. The company said it will use the new capital to expand its team and to continue scaling its model and training datasets in preparation for further commercial deployment of its technology.
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