Amazon acquires Rivr stair-climbing delivery robot startup
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- Amazon acquired Zurich-based Rivr, maker of a stair-climbing autonomous delivery robot, though deal terms were not disclosed.
- Rivr co-founder and CEO Marko Bjelonic — who previously described the four-legged wheeled robot to TechCrunch as a "dog on roller skates" — announced the deal on LinkedIn, with The Information first reporting it.
- Bjelonic said the acquisition will "accelerate our vision of building General Physical AI through doorstep delivery, bringing robotics and AI closer to real-world deployment at scale."
- Rivr piloted its robots in Austin last year with package-delivery company Veho, and Bjelonic had publicly hoped to scale to 100 bots by 2026 — a milestone the source flags as never confirmed as met.
- Amazon's Industrial Innovation Fund and Bezos Expeditions were already Rivr investors, having participated in a $22.2 million seed round that closed in 2024; Rivr had raised $25 million total and was last valued at $100 million per PitchBook.
Why it matters: Amazon is converting a prior venture bet — through both its Industrial Innovation Fund and Bezos Expeditions — into a full acquisition, bringing in-house the team behind a robot purpose-built for the stair-climbing "last 50 feet" of delivery. Rivr, last valued at $100 million, had a 100-bot scaling target by 2026 that was never confirmed as met, meaning Amazon is absorbing a startup it had already partially funded but which hadn't yet proven scale independently.
