Amazon Acquires Swiss Robotics Startup "RIVR," Linear Capital Leads Its First Round | Linear Portfolio

Amazon has completed its acquisition of Swiss robotics startup "RIVR," with the RIVR team joining Amazon to begin a new chapter.

Linear Capital led RIVR's first round and doubled down in subsequent rounds. In 2023, the Linear team traveled to Zurich to seek out the most cutting-edge innovations at ETH, where they ultimately met Marko and his team.

On the acquisition, Harry Wang, founder and CEO of Linear Capital, said: "We shared mutual trust and genuine camaraderie with Marko and his team — sharing drinks and reciting poetry together. This journey we walked together is truly precious. With Amazon's support, the Marko team will, in their own way, push Physical AI toward real-world deployment and create deeper, more lasting value for our shared human future."

Recently, Swiss robotics startup "RIVR" announced that it has been acquired by Amazon, with the RIVR team joining Amazon to begin a new chapter.

RIVR founder Marko Bjelonic stated, "This development will accelerate our vision of building general-purpose physical AI through last-mile delivery, pushing robotics and AI technology one step closer to large-scale real-world deployment. I am incredibly proud of everything RIVR has achieved, and even more excited about what we will accomplish together at Amazon."

Founded in April 2023 and headquartered in Zurich, RIVR was previously known as Swiss-Mile. In November 2023, RIVR completed its first funding round led by Linear Capital, with Agile Robots participating as a co-investor. In August 2024, RIVR secured additional investment from Amazon, Jeff Bezos's Bezos Expeditions fund, HSG, and others, with Linear Capital continuing to increase its stake.

RIVR is dedicated to building general-purpose physical AI, pursuing this goal by deploying autonomous wheeled-legged robots for door-to-door delivery. Every robot delivery generates massive amounts of data, which — combined with large-scale reinforcement learning in simulation and self-supervised learning in the real world — continuously refines its AI. With a full technology stack spanning software to hardware, RIVR was designed from the ground up for high reliability, safety, and cost-effectiveness, paving the way for large-scale applications of physical AI.

RIVR's robot dogs use four wheeled legs to navigate streets, stairs, and other environments. Last year, Europe's largest food delivery platform, Just Eat Takeaway, announced a partnership with RIVR to introduce RIVR's fully autonomous food delivery robots to the European market. RIVR also collaborated with logistics startup Veho on a pilot project testing RIVR for parcel delivery. RIVR stores packages and meals inside the robot dog's torso, using its all-terrain mobility to reach customers' doorsteps or designated spots in their yards, enabling automated last-mile delivery.

For delivery drivers, these robot dogs can be carried in their vehicles, handling the final leg of parcel delivery to improve efficiency on each route. RIVR has developed its own AI models and trains its robots using proprietary data collection.

Amazon recently shared this news with the vendors that provide its last-mile delivery services. The acquisition will allow the global e-commerce and logistics giant to further explore how to integrate robotics into its actual operations.

On the acquisition, Harry Wang, founder and CEO of Linear Capital, said:

"Three years ago, we traveled to Zurich to seek out the most cutting-edge innovations at ETH, where we ultimately met Marko and his team. They redefined wheeled robotics through real-to-sim-to-real technology, and with their global vision and resource integration capabilities, pulled off a brilliant act of global arbitrage.

Marko is a founder with true passion, unwavering conviction, and extraordinary resilience. We shared mutual trust and genuine camaraderie with him and his team — sharing drinks and reciting poetry together. This journey we walked together is truly precious.

Congratulations to the team on the Amazon acquisition! With Amazon's support, the Marko team will, in their own way, push Physical AI toward real-world deployment and create deeper, more lasting value for our shared human future."