The verified answer
As of Oct 2026, DEPLOY verifies Covariant: $120.0M raised. 4 sources back the record.
Overview
Robotics-AI company (Berkeley area; founded 2017) behind RFM-1, a robotics Foundation model that powered warehouse pick-and-place robots; largely absorbed by Amazon (reverse-acquihire, Aug 2024).
Reality check
RFM-1 (company-claimed)
Mar 2024: Robotics Foundation Model 1, trained on text, images, video, robot actions and warehouse sensor data from robots running the Covariant Brain.
Amazon deal (company-claimed)
Aug 2024: A reverse acquihire: Amazon took a non-exclusive license to the models, and Abbeel, Chen, Duan and about a quarter of staff joined Amazon.
Existing customers (company-claimed)
Aug 2024: Covariant was described as continuing to serve its existing customers after the Amazon agreement.
Verified record
- Verified deployments
- None on file
- Active incidents
- None on file
Valuation of record
DEPLOY VERIFIEDPriced roundSeries C post-money
Key facts
Application
Deployments
Data & sources
Press releases
2
Web sources
2
4 sources backing this record.View all →
Partnerships
Every company Covariant has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most-frequent partners
- 1Amazon1× joint17 total
Most recent
- Amazon x Covariant (model licensing)2024-08-30with Amazonjust announced
Relationships
Explainers
Plain-language answers to the questions people ask about Covariant, from DEPLOY’s explainer library. Each is written in the language of the question and cross-checked against this registry.
What is Covariant RFM-1?
How did DEPLOY correct the Covariant corporate-state narrative?
Current leadership (2)
- Tianhao Zhang Co-founder (current lead)secondary-verified
- Ted Stinson CEOsecondary-verified
Founders (4)
- Pieter Abbeelcofounderfounded 2017-01-01no longer at company
- Peter Chencofounderfounded 2017-01-01no longer at company
- Rocky Duancofounderfounded 2017-01-01no longer at company
- Tianhao Zhangcofounderfounded 2017-01-01
Former / Previously (3)
- Pieter Abbeel Co-foundersecondary-verified
- Peter Chen Co-founder & CEOsecondary-verified
- Rocky Duan Co-founder & CTOsecondary-verified
Safety record
No incidents on record for Covariant.
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Full safety record: incidents, sourcing, and exposure data →
Brains developed (1)
- RFM-1foundation-model · research
Recent coverage
Covariant in third-party press
Mentioned on (13)
Registry pages whose text names Covariant.
Companies (4)
Amazon, UC Berkeley BAIR, Voltage Park, University of California, Berkeley
AI systems (1)
People (8)
Peter Chen, Rocky Duan, Ted Stinson, Tianhao Zhang, Peter Chen, Mike Volpi, Andy Jassy, Pieter Abbeel
Financial state
- Total funding
- $120.0M
- Reporting basis
- aggregator_estimate
- Lifecycle stage
- wound_down
- Counterparty risk class
- elevated
Each numeric field carries its own basis marker. Aggregators report a number; this surface preserves the source class so verification depth travels with the value.
Partnerships
1 total · 1 just announced
Every company Covariant has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most recent
- Amazon x Covariant (model licensing)2024-08-30with Amazonjust announced
Most-frequent partners
- 1Amazon1× joint17 total
Funding rounds (3)
Covariant’s 3 disclosed rounds, $195M in total, oldest to newest.
- Series C extension2023-04-04
$75M
Investors: Index Ventures (co_lead), Radical Ventures (co_lead), Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), Amplify Partners, Gates Frontier, AIX Ventures, Northgate Capital
- Series C2021-07-27
$80M(reported) · $800M post
Investors: Index Ventures (lead), Amplify Partners, Radical Ventures, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), Temasek
- Series B2020-05-01
$40M(reported) · $320M post
Investors: Amplify Partners (lead), Index Ventures, Radical Ventures
Acquisitions (1)
- acquired by Amazonlicense and hire2024-08-01
Timeline
Every recorded move in Covariant’s history, most recent first: funding rounds, partnerships, acquisitions, supply-chain starts, key hires, and press.
New supplierNew supplier: Cognex
2026-08-23Supply: Vision integration for AI picking from Cognex
Acquired byAcquired
2024-08-01Acquired
Funding roundSeries C funding round
2021-07-27Series C raising $80000000
Funding roundSeries B funding round
2020-05-01Series B raising $40000000
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Verified media addedVerifiedJun 11, 2026
RFM-1: A world model that understands physics
- Verified media addedVerifiedJun 11, 2026
Covariant Robotic Induction | Explainer Video
- Record createdJun 3, 2026
Added to the verified registry
Sources (4)
- https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240311948570/en/Covariant-Introduces-RFM-1-to-Give-Robots-the-Human-like-Ability-to-Reason
- https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-covariant-ai-robots
- https://www.geekwire.com/2024/amazon-hires-covariant-founders-inks-licensing-deal-with-robotics-ai-startup-in-latest-reverse-acquihire-deal/
- https://www.indexventures.com/perspectives/congratulations-to-covariant-on-their-75m-series-c/ · 2023-04-04
Common questions
What is Covariant?
What does Covariant make?
Who is the CEO of Covariant?
Where is Covariant headquartered?
How much funding has Covariant raised?
Is Covariant a top robotics company?
When was Covariant founded?
Is Covariant safe?
Methodology: Aggregator drift detected · 4 sources (2 primary) · last reviewed 2026-10-13
Verification posture
Aggregator drift detected
Cap-flag required
Review state
Drift-flagged
Last reviewed 2026-10-13
1 anchored drift pattern(s); see cap_flags
Sources by quality tier
- 2
- primary-company-ir
- Company IR disclosure
- 2
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
Cap flags
Claim: Covariant was acquired by Intrinsic / Alphabet
Honest status: Covariant continues operating in a diminished state post-Amazon-AGI departure. Ted Stinson is CEO. Covariant retained a non-exclusive license / IP. The Intrinsic / Alphabet acquisition framing is aggregator drift; the actual relationship was different.
Covariant was not acquired by Intrinsic / Alphabet. Covariant continues as standalone (diminished post-Amazon-AGI). Ted Stinson CEO; non-exclusive license / IP retained.
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for Covariant.In the press
Recent coverage mentioning Covariant from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
Industry Insights: How Amazon Leveraged Covariant's Technology to Accelerate Robot Development
Unpacking Amazon’s unique Covariant AI deal
This Could Be the Start of Amazon’s Next Robot Revolution
Another Stealth “AI Acquisition”
Amazon hires founders of AI robotics startup Covariant
Amazon hires the founders of AI robotics startup Covariant
Amazon hires Covariant founders, inks licensing deal with AI startup in latest ‘reverse acquihire’
An update on how we’re accelerating the use of AI in robotics at scale
How the A.I. That Drives ChatGPT Will Move Into the Physical World (Published 2024)
Covariant is building ChatGPT for robots
Covariant Announces a Universal AI Platform for Robots
Following the Prompts: Generative AI Powers Smarter Robots With NVIDIA Isaac Platform
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /companies/covariant.md
- RSS feed: /companies/covariant/feed.xml
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/companies/e9e8c50a-1aea-4850-bc7f-c914b21324d5
- Revision history: /companies/covariant/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Heat Index
Category contender75/100
A composite of competitive footprint, funding, press velocity, active partnerships, and supply-chain edges. Different from the Intelligence score below (which is per-form-factor productization). Non-robotics companies cap at 25.
Reality vs attention
Not enough verified signal yet to place Covariant against peers. Reality and attention percentiles publish once the underlying record clears its data floor.
6-month trend
Analysis
Limited public visibility and press coverage relative to peers.
Signal flags
Dimension breakdown
Verified signal
Attention (reach, not merit)
DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.
DEPLOY Indices — verified vs claimed
Last computed: Oct 17, 2026