Camilla Hodgson or the Financial Times tells her readers that the head of an ecommerce giant’s $1bn innovation fund is vowing to increase deals aimed at automating retail networks. She writes:
Amazon’s $1bn industrial innovation fund is to step up investments in companies that combine artificial intelligence and robotics, as the ecommerce giant seeks to drive efficiencies across its logistics network. Franziska Bossart, head of the corporate venture capital arm that was set up in 2022, told the Financial Times that “generative AI holds a lot of promise for robotics and automation” and is an area “we are going to focus on this year”. She added that the fund’s pace of investment would “absolutely” accelerate in 2024. It made its first investment in a generative AI company last year, the details of which have not been disclosed.
Franziska Bossart, head of the corporate venture capital arm that was set up in 2022, told the Financial Times that “generative AI holds a lot of promise for robotics and automation” and is an area “we are going to focus on this year”.
A recent effort to “regionalise” the US network — which involved restructuring the national parcel packing, sorting and delivery hubs, as well as its transport fleet, into eight regional networks — meant goods could be stored closer to customers, making deliveries quicker and cheaper, Amazon said in February. But there were still areas “where we believe we can lower costs while also delivering faster for customers”, said chief executive Andy Jassy.
But there were still areas “where we believe we can lower costs while also delivering faster for customers”, said chief executive Andy Jassy.
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