Odyssey hits $1.45B valuation with backing from Amazon and others
▼ Summary
– Odyssey, a world model AI startup, raised $310 million in Series B funding at a $1.45 billion valuation, led by Natural Capital with Amazon, AMD Ventures, and GV participating.
– World models simulate the physical world with accurate physics; Odyssey collected data by sending people with cameras strapped to their backs, similar to Google Earth’s method.
– Founded in 2023 by former self-driving startup leaders Oliver Cameron and Jeff Hawke, Odyssey offers world models for video-game creation and robotics, including generating interactive video from text.
– With Amazon’s backing, AWS is Odyssey’s preferred cloud provider, and it will optimize models for AWS’s Trainium chips, competing with Nvidia.
– Odyssey has raised $337 million total, with angel investors including Jeff Dean, Elad Gil, Garry Tan, Guillermo Rauch, and Cruise founder Kyle Vogt.
A world model AI startup led by two veterans of the autonomous vehicle industry has secured a massive $310 million Series B funding round, pushing its valuation to $1.45 billion. The round was led by Natural Capital, with significant participation from Amazon, AMD Ventures, and GV, among others.
World models are emerging as the next major frontier in artificial intelligence, moving beyond text-based and chat-focused large language models. These systems gather data from the physical world and simulate it using accurate physics. Odyssey has taken a unique approach to data collection, reminiscent of how Google Earth operates. Instead of relying on camera-equipped cars, the startup has sent people into the field with cameras strapped to their backs to capture real-world environments.
This strategy aligns perfectly with the founders’ backgrounds. CEO Oliver Cameron previously co-founded and led autonomous vehicle startup Voyage, which was later acquired by GM’s Cruise, where he served as VP of product. CTO Jeff Hawke was an engineer at Wayve, a prominent U. K.-based self-driving company.
Founded in 2023, Odyssey now offers a suite of world models designed for diverse applications, ranging from video-game creation to robotics. The startup is perhaps best known for its ability to generate rich, interactive video content directly from text prompts.
The involvement of Amazon comes with a strategic partnership. Odyssey has designated AWS as its preferred cloud provider and will optimize its models to run on AWS’s Trainium chips, which compete directly with Nvidia’s AI hardware.
Beyond the institutional investors in this unicorn-defining round, Odyssey has assembled an impressive roster of angel investors. These include Jeff Dean, Elad Gil, Garry Tan, Guillermo Rauch, and Cruise founder Kyle Vogt. With this latest injection, the company has raised a total of $337 million to date.
(Source: TechCrunch)