Covariant CEO Peter Chen, chief scientist Pieter Abbeel, CTO Rocky Duan and other staff will join Amazon, the startup announced late Friday. Covariant COO Ted Stinson will become chief executive of the Bay Area firm. Neither company disclosed financial terms of the agreement. (The Logic)
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Covariant CEO Peter Chen, chief scientist Pieter Abbeel, CTO Rocky Duan and other staff will join Amazon, the startup announced late Friday. Covariant COO Ted Stinson will become chief executive of the Bay Area firm. Neither company disclosed financial terms of the agreement. (The Logic)
Talking point: The deal is the latest example of a tech giant taking a hot AI startup’s top talent and technology, without technically making an acquisition. In June, Amazon made a similar agreement with Adept, which offers AI assistants. U.S. and U.K. regulators are investigating those kinds of transactions over concerns that they are simply stealth buyouts. Covariant had raised US$155 million in funding, from backers including Toronto’s Radical Ventures and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Amazon will use the startup’s technology—which specializes in picking and sorting packaged goods, groceries and parcels—to help run the robots in its warehouses.
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