Retail chain giant Wal-Mart is launching a tech incubator in Silicon Valley, focused on robotics, virtual and augmented reality, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Dubbed as “Store №8”, the new incubator’s name is a reference to a Wal-Mart location in Arkansas, where the company experimented with new store layouts.

The new initiative was announced by Marc Lore, CEO of Walmart’s U.S. e-commerce business at the Shoptalk conference in Las Vegas.

Marc Lore is also the co-founder of Jet.com, the e-commerce startup that was acquired by Wal-Mart in 2016, for a sum of $3 billion USD in cash and $300 million USD in stock.

According to Lore’s statement, Walmart will invest in the startup businesses like a VC company and grow the group as a portfolio. The incubator will partner with other startups, venture capitalists and academics. The group’s portfolio startups will be independent from Walmart’s business.

The announcement is seen as a move to fight Amazon and grow its e-commerce business.

Earlier in 2016, billionaire Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway had sold off about $900 million worth of Wal-Mart stock, reflecting market concerns about the company’s prospects in competing with Amazon.com.

Follow us on Medium to get the latest Virtual Reality trends and news in your inbox every week.

Sign up to our exclusive reports today! Discover how Virtual and Augmented Reality are transforming your business.