Odyssey Reaches $1.45B Valuation in Series B Backed by Amazon
Original: World model maker Odyssey nabs $1.45B valuation backed by Amazon and other big names
Why This Matters
World models represent the next major frontier in AI development beyond large language models, with broad commercial applications in autonomous vehicles, robotics, and digital content creation.
Odyssey, a world model AI startup founded by self-driving vehicle pioneers, raised $310 million in Series B funding at a $1.45 billion valuation. The round was led by Natural Capital with participation from Amazon, AMD Ventures, and GV. The company has now raised $337 million total.
Odyssey, founded in 2023 by CEO Oliver Cameron (formerly VP of product at Cruise) and CTO Jeff Hawke (ex-Wayve engineer), focuses on developing world models—AI systems that gather physical world data and simulate it with accurate physics. Unlike text and chat-based language models, world models enable applications from video game creation to robotics. The startup gained recognition for producing rich, interactive video from text prompts. Odyssey employed a data collection approach similar to Google Earth, deploying people with cameras strapped to their backs. With Amazon's backing, AWS becomes Odyssey's preferred cloud provider, and the company will optimize models to run on AWS Trainium chips, competing against Nvidia's AI processors. Notable angel investors backing the round include Jeff Dean, Elad Gil, Garry Tan, Guillermo Rauch, and Cruise founder Kyle Vogt.