Bezos goes Web 2.0 wild

Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos is testing the Web 2.0 waters with a series of internet-related investments. Earlier this month, he backed search engine ChaCha’s in its $6 million Series A investment round through Bezos Expiditions.

And Amazon, through Amazon NV Investment Holdings, invested in Wikia’s $10 million Series B round in December, presumably to help the for-profit sister of Wikipedia launch its search engine.

Bezos is a limited partner in O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures (OATV), a firm formed as a partner to book publisher and Web2.0 Summit convener O’Reilly Media. Bezos is one of the 19 investors that have pooled $34.3 million toward OATV’s first fund through Explore Holdings, an investment fund run by his executive assistant Elizabeth Korrell.

Explore Holdings was also an investor in iRobot’s (Nasdaq:IRBT) $10 million Series F in 2004. Bezos has also invested in aerospace company Blue Origin.