tech
World model maker Odyssey nabs $1.45B valuation backed by Amazon and other big names
World models are the next big thing in AI beyond LLMs and, with this round, Odyssey has cemented itself as one of the startups to watch.
TL;DR
- Odyssey, an AI startup specializing in world models, raised $310 million in Series B funding, reaching a $1.45 billion valuation.
- The funding round was led by Natural Capital and included investments from Amazon, AMD Ventures, and GV.
- Founders Oliver Cameron and Jeff Hawke have backgrounds in the autonomous vehicle industry (Voyage and Wayve).
- World models simulate the physical world using data gathered from real-world sources, representing a next step in AI beyond large language models.
- Odyssey's models have applications in video game creation and robotics, and are known for generating interactive video from text prompts.
- The company will partner with AWS as its preferred cloud provider and optimize models for AWS Trainium chips.
- Odyssey has raised a total of $337 million to date, with notable angel investors including Jeff Dean and Garry Tan.