(June 12): Prometheus, an artificial intelligence (AI) start-up led by Jeff Bezos, has raised a round of funding that values it at US$41 billion ($52.69 billion), bolstering the Amazon.com Inc founder’s status as a significant player in the AI boom.
Prometheus raised US$12 billion in funding from investors, including JPMorgan Chase & Co, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, BlackRock Inc and Bezos himself, according to a company spokesperson. Bloomberg News previously reported details of the financing and participants.
The company, overseen by Bezos and Google veteran Vik Bajaj, is focused on developing AI models and tools that would help engineer and manufacture physical products for industries like computing and aerospace. It currently has about 150 employees.
Since stepping down as the chief executive officer of Amazon in 2021, Bezos has focused on building up his rocket company, Blue Origin, and invested in a number of AI ventures, including robotics firms Physical Intelligence and Generalist AI. He also continues to serve as the executive chair of Amazon.
Prometheus has also sought to raise tens of billions of dollars — if not more — for a holding company that plans to buy firms outright that it sees as benefitting from the technologies the lab is developing, Bloomberg News has reported.
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