Design and supply chain services provider Avnet acquired US-based manufacturing control services supplier Dragon Innovation for an undisclosed sum yesterday, giving an exit to e-commerce and cloud computing firm Amazon.
Founded in 2009, Dragon Innovation has created a cloud-based platform that, combined with human experts, helps startups with the manufacturing process for their products, assisting with planning, sourcing the right production facility and monitoring manufacturing.
Dragon was one of the initial raft of companies to receive funding from Amazon’s Alexa Fund, formed to invest in companies utilising the corporate’s Alexa voice-response technology, when it was launched in mid-2015.
The company had closed a $2.5m seed round featuring Flybridge Capital Partners, Foundry Group, Box Group, Lerer Ventures and Undercurrent Ventures the year before, and its investors also include VTF Capital.
Scott N. Miller, Dragon Innovation’s CEO, said: “By providing customers with the fastest, simplest, safest way to manufacture at scale, Dragon Innovation’s vision is to make manufacturing feel easy. We use a combination of technology and human expertise built into accessible, straightforward online tools.
“We are thrilled to be joining Avnet, an established market leader who shares our values and has significant resources and reach to enable us to help companies build hardware better than ever before.”