(Bloomberg) -- Covariant, a maker of artificial intelligence software used in industrial robots, received recent takeover interest from Amazon.com Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.
Representatives for Amazon and Covariant declined to comment. Founded in 2017, Covariant has raised $245 million from investors including Index Ventures and Radical Ventures, and it was valued at $625 million in a 2023 funding round, according to PitchBook.
Amazon has been a leader in warehouse automation since its 2012 acquisition of Kiva Systems, which makes robots that roam vast warehouses, fetching products and helping fulfill online orders more swiftly. Covariant’s customers include online retailer Otto Group, logistics firm Radial and pharmaceutical distributor McKesson Corp., which use the company’s software in warehouses, according to its website.
Covariant would be an attractive takeover target for Amazon because its software would provide a single platform, enabling robots from different companies to communicate with one another and be managed in a centralized fashion, said Brittain Ladd, a logistics industry consultant and former Amazon executive. “It’s basically a way for Amazon to power all of their automation through one platform,” Ladd said.
Amazon has been examining other options to enhance its warehouse automation beyond Kiva robots. The Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund in December led a $3.2 million investment in Instock, another warehouse robotics firm. Amazon also invested in Agility Robotics Inc. in 2022 and participated in a July investment in startup Standard Bots.
Covariant Chief Executive Officer Peter Chen co-founded the company while working as an electrical engineering and computer science researcher at the University of California at Berkeley.
--With assistance from Shirin Ghaffary.
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