We mined Amazon's acquisitions, investments, and partnerships to discern the company's strategic priorities in home automation.
Amazon wants to be at the center of your home.
The tech giant has already slipped its AI-powered voice assistant Alexa into everything from smart speakers to TVs to microwaves. But its ambitions for the home expand far beyond playing songs on command and hooking up kitchen appliances to the internet.
For example, it recently announced that it was acquiring autonomous vacuum-maker iRobot for $1.7B — its 4th largest acquisition to date — as it moves into offering consumer robots that can assist with everyday tasks around the home and even provide companionship.
Meanwhile, Amazon has also been investing in lots of wearables and fitness startups, signaling a desire to play a bigger role in consumers’ day-to-day lifestyles and wellness while also offering ways to improve the accessibility of its home-focused tech through new interfaces like brain-monitoring headsets.
Using CB Insights data, we uncovered the 4 most important home automation strategic priorities highlighted by Amazon and the Amazon Alexa Fund’s recent acquisitions, investments, and partnerships. We then categorized companies by their business relationships with Amazon across these priorities.
- Connected products
- Consumer wearables & fitness
- Robotic assistance
- Voice tech
