Aviary is a web-based software company that has designed applications such as Image Editor, Color Editor, Vector Editor, Effect Editor, Screen Capture, Image Markup, and Audio Editor. Aviary is based in Long Island, New York. And now the company has raised $7 million in Series B from Jeff Bezos (founder and CEO of Amazon.com) and Spark Capital.
Bezos’ investment was made through his venture firm Bezos Expeditions. Aviary competes directly with Adobe Systems Inc. To access Aviary’s web based applications, the subscription cost is $24.99 for the Pro version. The Pro version gives more enhanced file privacy, full watermark control, higher quality thumbnails, and unlimited storage. The basic version gives access to the web base applications too.
“We are disrupting the status quo by eliminating the long-held barriers to digital creation and giving creators the tools they need to create, market and monetize their vision,” stated Aviary Inc. founder and CEO Avi Muchnick. “We are extremely excited to have Spark Capital on board. Their broad-ranging internet, software and consumer experience will be a tremendous asset to us in furthering our mission to make creation accessible to creators of all genres.”
Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, Xconomy, and Mass High Tech has invested $7 million into Heartland Robotics. Heartland is a robotics company that is currently in stealth-mode and is based in Cambridge, Mass.
Heartland describes themselves as “combining the power of computers — embodied in robots — and the extraordinary intelligence of the American workforce, to increase productivity and revitalize manufacturing.” The company will be unveiling their products in the next several months.
One of the reasons why Bezos himself may be interested in robotics is because of the way that Amazon.com utilizes robotics within their distribution and fulfillment centers. Zappos.com, a company that Amazon.com recently acquired has a massive distribution center in Louisville, Kentucky.
One of the co-founders in Heartland includes Rodney Brooks. Brooks is a professor in robotics at M.I.T. and also previously founded iRobot.
Amazon.com is shutting down three distribution centers (DCs) soon. This is the first time Amazon.com has closed a DC since 2006. The closures will take place in Munster, Indiana, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and Red Rock, Nevada.
The 215 workers at the Amazon.com DCs will receive pay up until May 25 and receive benefits up until May 31. The employees will receive 3 weeks of severance pay and will get a chance to transfer to other distribution centers based in the U.S.
Amazon.com reportedly has dozens of fulfillment centers around the country, but their website claims that they have 12 fulfillment centers in 12 U.S. states and 8 other countries.
In order to get some experience in the field, Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos worked at the fulfillment center in Lexington, Kentucky for one week. The Munster, Indiana facility is shutting down after only being open for 18 months.
This interview made me want to buy the Kindle 2 even more. Especially the part where Bezos said that with the Kindle 2, you can read with only one hand.
Amazon.com has posted a 9% increase in fourth quarter net income and an 18% rise in sales. As a result, Amazon’s shares rose to over $56 per share in after hours trading. This past holiday season, Amazon had their best ever despite the challenges faced by all retail companies. Amazon reported a net income of $225 million for the quarter, up from $207 million a year ago. Net sales increased 18% to $6.7 billion.
Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com mentioned that the Kindle ebook reader helped with the increase in net income. But Bezos did not disclose how many units were sold. Amazon sold out of Kindles for the second consecutive holiday season. Amazon expects their first quarter sales to grow about 9-19% or about $4.53 billion to $4.93 billion. Wall Street projects growth to be about 11%.
Gross margin slid to 20.1% from 20.6%. Amazon.com’s free shipping, lower prices, and expanded product lines provided Amazon the opportunity to gain market share from a lot of their competition. Amazon’s international sales increased by 19% to $3.07 billion. A lot of Amazon.com’s increase in profit is due to people favoring fixed price websites over auctions like eBay.com.
