Jeff Bezos AI lab Project Prometheus nears $38bn valuation in funding

In short: Jeff Bezos’s AI lab, code-named Project Prometheus, is close to raising about $10bn in a deal valuing it around $38bn.

What happened

The Financial Times reports that Project Prometheus is planning to close a funding round soon. People familiar with the deal said the valuation would be about $38bn, including the new money.

The reported deal includes an initial $6.2bn raised in November. It was extended because more investors wanted in, according to the report. Bezos is among the initial investors, and a person familiar with the matter said JPMorgan and BlackRock are among the investors in the new round.

Prometheus is based in San Francisco and has offices in London and Zurich. The lab is working on AI systems meant for “physical” industries like engineering and manufacturing. Think of it like building software that can help plan and test real world objects and factories before people do the work by hand.

The FT also says this funding round is separate from another effort. Prometheus is reportedly raising tens of billions of dollars for a holding company that would buy stakes in businesses it expects to be affected by this technology, such as engineering, architecture, and design firms. The report says those portfolio companies could also provide data to help train Prometheus’s AI.

Why it matters

A $38bn valuation and $10bn funding round would make Prometheus one of the most heavily funded young AI companies. If its tools work as intended, they could change how some products and buildings get designed and made, in ways that could affect costs, speed, and jobs across industrial fields.

Source: Financial Times