Rob Cochran and Sprout.
Courtesy: Fauna Robotics
Amazon has acquired Fauna Robotics, a startup that builds “approachable” humanoid robots for consumers and businesses, the company confirmed Tuesday. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
“We are excited about Fauna’s vision to build capable, safe, and fun robots for everyone,” an Amazon spokesperson told CNBC in a statement. “Together with Amazon’s robotics expertise and decades of experience earning customer trust in the home through our retail and devices businesses, we’re looking forward to inventing new ways to make our customers’ lives better and easier.”
Bloomberg was first to report on the acquisition.
Fauna Robotics was founded in 2024 by former Meta and Google engineers. Earlier this year, the New York-based company launched Sprout, a $50,000 bipedal robot that’s 3.5 feet tall, weighs 50 lbs, and is designed to be “approachable and human-friendly,” as well as “genuinely accessible” to software developers.
The company said at the time that it signed up Disney and Hyundai’s Boston Dynamics as early customers.
Fauna’s roughly 50 employees will join Amazon in NYC, the company said. In a LinkedIn post, Fauna co-founder and CEO Rob Cochran said he was “incredibly excited” for Fauna to join Amazon.
“We are thrilled about what joining the Amazon team means for our future,” Cochran wrote. “Going forward, we will proudly operate as Fauna Robotics, an Amazon company.”
Amazon has spent more than a decade investing in robotics, primarily for applications in its warehouse operations. It acquired Kiva Systems for $775 million in 2012, which served as the foundation for Amazon Robotics, its division focused on warehouse automation.
The company has turned to M&A again to beef up its robotics expertise. Amazon said last week it acquired Rivr, a Swiss robotics company developing machines for “doorstep delivery.”
Amazon said it hopes to leverage its robotics knowledge, as well as its long history in retail and devices, to better understand the potential of personal robots to make its customers’ lives better and easier.
The company has experimented with home robots before. Amazon launched a squat, roving personal robot called Astro in 2021, which is priced at $1,600, though the device can only be purchased via invitation.
By acquiring Fauna, Amazon is entering the increasingly crowded humanoid robot market. Tesla is developing a humanoid robot, called Optimus, and plans to manufacture these at its Fremont, California, factory.
In January, CEO Elon Musk said the company would convert former production lines for the company’s flagship Model S and X vehicles into “an Optimus factory” with the goal of “having 1 million units a year,” made there.
Other humanoid competitors include California-based 1X, Figure AI, Apptronik, Agility Robotics and China-based Unitree.
— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.
