Jeff Bezos' New AI Venture Prometheus Raises $12B, Valuation Reaches $41B
Jeff Bezos' new AI venture Prometheus has raised $12B in fresh funding, pushing its valuation to about $41B. Meanwhile, OpenAI confidentially filed for an IPO with the SEC, setting up a potential race with Anthropic as both companies seek massive new capital.This week's private company news:OpenAI announced that it will acquire Ona, "bringing its secure cloud execution and orchestration technology into our rapidly expanding Codex ecosystem." OpenAI said: "As Codex becomes more capable, its most valuable work is unfolding over hours or days, rather than minutes. We believe people should be able to delegate more ambitious work without remaining tied to the machine where it began. The work should continue beyond the initial session, with Codex making it possible to stay connected and check progress, provide direction, make decisions, and review results from anywhere. Ona will help us do that. Its technology provides secure, persistent environments where agents can access the tools, systems, and context they need to make progress over time."Sam Altman, CEO of Microsoft-backed OpenAI, and the Trump administration are in ongoing discussions over a possible government stake in the ChatGPT maker, CNBC's Ashley Capoot and Kate Rooney. The talks have been in progress for over a year, as Altman first shared the idea with the White House last year, the authors say, citing a source familiar with the matter. Such discussions continued this week as the CEO met with a number of lawmakers and officials in Washington, D.C. to go over regulation and the latest developments in AI, the authors note. As part of a potential pact, OpenAI could donate equity to the U.S. government to seed something in the vein of a "Public Wealth Fund" that the ChatGPT maker outlined in its April policy proposal, the authors say.Some of the biggest capital raises by private companies this week include:Prometheus- Jeff Bezos' newest AI venture has secured a massive $12B funding round. Prometheus launched in November with $6.2B in initial backing and is now valued at roughly $41B. The latest funding round includes investments from JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachsand BlackRock. Publicly-traded companies operating in the same space include Microsoft, IBM, and Palantir.NEURA Robotics– The cognitive robotics company and creator of the Neuraverse announced a Series C financing with a total round size of up to $1.4B to accelerate its mission of building the world's leading Physical AI platform. The financing brings together global leaders across AI, robotics, compute, manufacturing and industrial infrastructure, including Tether, Qualcomm, Amazon, Nvidia, imec.xpand, Bosch, Schaeffler, European Investment Bank, Lingotto Horizon, InterAlpen Partners and others. Publicly-traded companies operating in the same space include Tesla, Symbotic, and iRobot.Cyera– The cybersecurity startup raised $600M at a $12B valuation in a round led by Evolution Equity Partners, with participation from Cyberstarts and Temasek, in addition to all existing investors including Accel, AT&T Ventures, Blackstone, Coatue, Spark Capital, among others. Publicly-traded companies operating in the same space include Palo Alto Networks, CrowdStrike, and Fortinet.Flourish– The company said it raised $500M at a $2.5B valuation, with Amazonfounder Jeff Bezos contributing nearly $100M. Publicly-traded companies operating in the same space include AeroVironment.Helion– The Washington-based fusion energy company announced a $465M Series G investment round that was led by Thrive Capital. Publicly-traded companies operating in the same space include Chevron, Nucor, and AMSC.Unicorns to watch this week:Insilico Medicine– The AI-driven drug discovery startup recently raised to unicorn status with its latest funding round. The company uses generative AI to design small molecule drugs and accelerate preclinical development. Publicly-traded companies operating in the same space include Exscientiaand Recursion Pharmaceuticals.Innovaccer– The healthcare AI unicorn, valued at about $3.45B, is focusing on acquisitions and secondary rounds as it expands its healthcare data and analytics platform. Publicly-traded companies operating in the same space include Phreesia, IQVIA, and CareCloud.Dataiku– The AI/machine-learning platform helps enterprises build, deploy and manage models. Publicly-traded companies operating in the same space include Altair, Google, and IBM.Mammoth Biosciences– The company focuses on CRISPR-based diagnostics and therapeutics, using novel CRISPR systems. Publicly-traded companies operating in the same space include CRISPR Therapeutics, Editas Medicine, and Beam Therapeutics.Apex Space– The space company, which builds satellite platforms for commercial and government customers, recently reached unicorn status as demand for space based networks accelerates. Publicly-traded companies operating in the same space include Redwire, AST SpaceMobile, and Iridium Communications.Other IPOs to watch:OpenAI– The company has confidentially filed for an IPO with the SEC, which allows the company to submit its financials to regulators for review before they're made available to the public, CNBC.com's Ashley Capoot. Anthropic and OpenAI could be in a race to go public due to the massive amount of capital they're trying to raise, the report states.Bending Spoons– The technology company whose main businesses include AOL, Brightcove, Eventbrite, Evernote, Harvest, komoot, Remini, StreamYard, Vimeo, and WeTransfer announced that it has publicly filed a registration statement on Form F-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a proposed initial public offering of its ordinary shares. The timing of the offering, number of shares to be offered, and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. Bending Spoons has applied to list its ordinary shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol "BSP."Kardigan– The company has filed an initial public offering of shares of its common stock. The company has applied to list its common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol "KARD." JP Morgan, Jefferies, Leerink Partners, and TD Cowen are acting as the underwriters for the offering.SpaceX– The company has officially submitted its Form S-1 with the SEC to list its Class A common stock on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol SPCX. Expected to be the largest IPO in history, the company targets raising up to $80B at a valuation exceeding $2T.Inspire Brands– The company announced that it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to the proposed initial public offering of its common stock. Inspire Brands expects to use the net proceeds of the proposed offering to repay outstanding indebtedness under its existing term loan facility and pay offering fees and expenses."Private Markets" is The Fly's recurring series of stories on the latest moves in the private sector, largest unicorn companies and initial public offerings to watch. 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