Amazon buys Fauna
Amazon acquired Fauna Robotics and is backing a massive push into robotics and manufacturing automation — a strategy tied to a reported multi‑billion fund to bring AI into factories and homes via humanoid and warehouse robots. The move signals Amazon is moving beyond logistics software into physical automation at scale. (latimes.com, ktvb.com)
The purchase closed last week and Fauna will join Amazon’s Personal Robotics Group while continuing to operate under the name “Fauna, an Amazon company”; Amazon did not disclose the deal price. (bloomberg.com) Fauna’s Sprout is a 42‑inch (3 ft. 6 in.), 50‑pound bipedal humanoid priced at $50,000 that the company began deploying to research and development partners in January. (cnbc.com) Fauna was founded in 2024 by former Meta and Google engineers, had raised at least $30 million from Kleiner Perkins, Quiet Capital and Lux Capital, and will bring roughly 50 employees — including co‑founders Rob Cochran and Josh Merel — into Amazon’s New York operations. (bloomberg.com) The Fauna deal follows Amazon’s acquisition of Swiss delivery‑robot maker Rivr earlier this month and builds on the company’s history of robotics M&A that began with its $775 million purchase of Kiva Systems in 2012. (cnbc.com) The move arrives amid reporting that Jeff Bezos is in early talks to raise roughly $100 billion for a fund to acquire and automate manufacturing companies using AI — an effort outlets have linked to his secretive Project Prometheus — signaling coordinated investment across factory automation and embodied AI. (bloomberg.com) Amazon says Fauna will continue deploying Sprout to outside researchers and will relocate the startup into an Amazon building in New York as the team integrates with the company’s broader robotics and devices work. (bloomberg.com)
