Bezos’ AI startup Prometheus raises $12B in $41B valuation, and executives explain what they’re doing – GeekWire
Jeff Bezos has signed up for his Blue Origin space venture, selling shares of Amazon stock to keep the company afloat, but others are lining up for his next big project.
Prometheus, the AI startup of which Bezos is CEO, announced Thursday morning that it has raised $12 billion in Series B funding at a valuation of $41 billion. Investors in this round include JPMorgan, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, DST Global and Arch Venture Partners, according to Axios.
Bezos was the largest backer in the company’s $6.2 billion Series A, and in an interview with CNBC at the company’s headquarters in San Francisco, he also participated in the new round. The interview, with CNBC’s David Faber, was the first time Bezos and CEO Vik Bajaj have spoken together publicly about the private business.
“This is a startup that needs a lot of money, no question about that,” Bezos said, referring to the cost of computing and building data for the specialized training the company needs.
Asked about an upcoming IPO, he said “it’s too early to think about that.”
Prometheus, which has dropped “Project” from its name, is building what Bezos calls “general artificial engineering,” AI tools intended to speed up the process from design to material production, from bridges to chips. Bezos first floated the idea in a CNBC interview last month.
Speaking this morning, Bajaj gave the example of a jet engine, which took teams of engineers a decade or more to design, measure and manufacture – one of the most complex and creative human achievements, he explained.
“What has changed in the last few years is the ability to make even something as complex as that, from design to manufacturing, as an end-to-end AI problem,” Bajaj said.
Asked why they chose to speak out now, Bezos said the story was “like coming out,” adding: “If you let that be a complete vacuum, they’re going to fill it with nonsense.”
Bezos also spoke to reports that he wants to raise up to $100 billion for a mutual fund to buy manufacturing companies. He said Prometheus could buy parts of companies that could benefit from its technology, and help them improve their production systems.
He said he started in late 2024 as a founding investor alongside Bajaj, then “I was so impressed with what was happening and the power that I decided I couldn’t sit on the sidelines and needed to get in with both feet.” It’s his first CEO role since leaving Amazon in 2021.
“It’s grinding, but it’s good,” Bezos said.
The company has around 150 employees, based in San Francisco with teams in London and Zurich. The co-CEOs declined to give a timeline for the product, saying only that an early release is coming.
Checking some boxes at the end of the interview, Faber asked Bezos to provide an update on Blue Origin after the New Glenn rocket exploded during a launchpad test at Cape Canaveral, Fla., late last month.
“It was a very bad day for Blue, a very difficult day for the whole team,” Bezos said. “We’re together. We’re rebuilding the launch pad. We’ve been lucky in a lot of ways — the longest things on the launch pad weren’t damaged by the event. … We’ll be flying again before the end of this year.”
With all eyes on the SpaceX IPO, next Friday, Bezos said, “I’ll be watching with all of you.”
