Amazon launched the Alexa Fund in 2015 to support vocal startups at the start of the stage. With the advent of models of large languages and Amazon launching Alexa + propelled by AI with a family of multimodal AI models, the fund now wishes to expand its scope and invest more in AI startups.
In a blog article, Amazon shared with Techcrunch before the publication, the head of the Alexa Fund, Paul Bernard, explained that the company now wanted to invest in areas such as AI compatible equipment and smart agents.
“Although the mission of the Alexa fund has evolved beyond the initial emphasis on vocal technology over the years, the rapid AI developments have an inflection point which allows the fund to adopt new technologies while serving its original mission,” said Bernard.
“As such, the fund has invested in startups that advance the state of art in AI compatible material, generative media, smart agents, emerging AI architectures, etc.
The fund has invested in four new startups working in different fields:
- Ninjatech ai: This is an all-in-one AI company that has a chatbot with capacities to generate code, images and videos, carry out in-depth research and plan meetings for you. Like AI Assistant platforms, including POE, Ninjatech AI De Quora, Ninjatech AI gives access to Open AI, Meta, Anthropic, Google and Deepseek models. Amazon said the company manages its infrastructure on AWS.
- Hède:: Hedra is a media company AI that allows users to generate images, audio and videos via its studio. The company recently launched its Characteristic-3 AI for various forms of content creation. Last year, the company raised $ 10 million compared to the A16Z Speedrun, Abstract and index Ventures games.
- ARIO: Ario is a family management application fed by AI to manage planning and tasks. The company has created a decoder of school emails to create events and action articles through school communication. Bernard said he was impressed by the application because he understands the personal context behind the tasks. In particular, startups like Hearth Display and Maple also work on resolution of calendar management for families.
- Heyboss: It is difficult to escape the expression “atmosphere” on the internet, especially if you follow the technology. Heyboss is a startup in the same category that allows you to create websites, applications, games or prototypes by simply describing them. The other startups that operate in the same area include the cursor, Lovable, SpotAnd Bold.New.
For Amazon, these startups also become a way to put your cloud and its battery to use. Many of these startups have early access to private APIs and Amazon SDKs and become a test field for the electronic commerce company. Amazon also said that he had access to senior executives or opportunities with Amazon Business.
All large companies working in AI are trying to finance promising startups that can use their AI models. OPENAI’s start -up fund has supported many companies in the health, robotics, Edtech and creative tools sectors. Anthropic has teamed up with Menlo Ventures to create an investment vehicle for startups. Google has also recently supported companies such as the locking screen platform and the Toonsutra Webtoons platform and gave them access to different AI models.
