Alexa Fund Invests in AI Startups

Amazon launched the Alexa Fund back in 2015 with a focus on supporting early-stage voice technology startups. Fast forward to today, with the rise of large language models and the introduction of Amazon's Gen AI-powered Alexa+ and a suite of multimodal AI models, the fund is ready to expand its horizons. Now, it's setting its sights on a broader range of AI startups.

In a blog post shared with TechCrunch before going public, Paul Bernard, the leader of the Alexa Fund, outlined the fund's new direction. "While the Alexa Fund's mission has evolved beyond the initial focus on voice technology over the years, the rapid developments in AI present an inflection point that allows the Fund to embrace new technology while still serving its original mission," Bernard stated.

The fund is now keen on investing in startups that are pushing the boundaries in areas like AI-enabled hardware, generative media, smart agents, and emerging AI architectures. To get a better understanding of this shift, we sat down with Paul Bernard, the director of the Alexa Fund, to discuss the fund's refreshed mission and its latest investments.

The Alexa Fund has recently backed four innovative startups, each working in unique areas:

• NinjaTech AI: This startup is an all-in-one AI powerhouse, offering a chatbot that can generate code, images, and videos, conduct deep research, and even schedule your meetings. Similar to platforms like Quora's Poe, NinjaTech AI taps into models from OpenAI, Meta, Anthropic, Google, and DeepSeek. Amazon noted that the company leverages AWS for its infrastructure.
• Hedra: An AI media company, Hedra enables users to create images, audio, and video through its studio. They've recently introduced Character-3 AI, aimed at various content creation needs. Last year, Hedra secured $10 million in funding from a16z Games Speedrun, Abstract, and Index Ventures.
• Ario: This AI-powered app helps families manage their schedules and tasks. A standout feature is its school email decoder, which turns school communications into actionable events and tasks. Bernard was particularly impressed by how the app grasps the personal context behind tasks. Other startups like Hearth Display and Maple are also tackling family schedule management.
• HeyBoss: If you've been online lately, you've probably heard of "vibe coding." HeyBoss is a startup that lets you create websites, apps, games, or prototypes just by describing them. It's in the same space as other startups like Cursor, Lovable, Replit, and Bolt.new.

For Amazon, these investments are not just about funding; they're also about utilizing its cloud and AI technologies. These startups often get early access to Amazon's private APIs and SDKs, serving as testing grounds for the e-commerce giant. Additionally, Amazon offers these startups access to senior executives and potential collaborations with Amazon Business.

It's not just Amazon; other major players in the AI space are also investing in promising startups that can leverage their AI models. OpenAI's startup fund has supported companies in healthcare, robotics, edtech, and creative tools. Anthropic has teamed up with Menlo Ventures to create an investment vehicle for startups. Google has recently backed ventures like the lock screen platform Glance and the webtoons platform Toonsutra, providing them with access to various AI models.