Prometheus, an AI start-up co-founded by Jeff Bezos and Vik Bajaj, has secured $12bn in its latest funding round.
The company is now valued at $41bn following the investment, which includes backing from JPMorgan Chase, BlackRock, DST Global, Goldman Sachs, and Arch Venture Partners, as well as Bezos himself.
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The firm is developing technology described as an “artificial general engineer”, aimed at automating the design and production of complex physical products. Its intended applications include sectors such as aerospace, advanced manufacturing, automotive and drug discovery.
This new investment is the second major fundraising round for Prometheus, which launched in November last year with $6.2bn in initial funding, reported CNBC.
According to the company, total capital raised has now surpassed $18bn. Prometheus has not disclosed details about its current product developments.
However, co-CEO Jeff Bezos indicated a significant portion of the new funding will support the company’s high computing requirements.
The venture currently employs approximately 150 people across offices in San Francisco, London and Zurich.
Bezos, who stepped down as chief executive of Amazon in 2021, co-leads Prometheus with Vik Bajaj, who previously co-founded Verily, Google’s life sciences unit, and is a professor at Stanford University’s School of Medicine.
The company aims to use AI to take on many tasks traditionally performed by engineers, including work on jet engines and pharmaceutical compounds.
While some technology industry figures have warned of large-scale job losses due to automation, Bezos has presented a different view.
Bezos said: “Significant productivity in the economy is going to raise the standard of living. People who today have two-earner households, they’ll become one-earner households. Maybe some people who are working overtime will stop working overtime.”
Prometheus has been recruiting staff from organisations including OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Nvidia, but has kept most information about its progress confidential.
The start-up has stated that achieving its ambitions will depend on further advances in AI and significant computing resources, supported by its recent funding efforts.
