Global model maker Odyssey has secured a $1.45 billion valuation boosted by Amazon and other big names

Odyssey, a global AI startup founded by CEO and self-driving vehicle pioneer Oliver Cameron and CTO Jeff Hook, has raised a $310 million Series B round at a $1.45 billion valuation led by Natural Capital with participation from Amazon, AMD Ventures, GV and others.

Universal models are the next big thing in AI beyond large text- and chat-based language models. They collect data from the physical world and simulate it with precise physics. In the case of Odyssey, it emulated how Google Earth collects data; startup They sent people outside with cameras strapped to their backs. (Google is driving camera-equipped cars everywhere.)

This approach makes sense given the founders’ backgrounds. Cameron was the co-founder and CEO of self-driving vehicle startup Voyage Acquired by GM’s Cruise companyWhere he later became Vice President of Product; Hawke was an engineer in British self-driving startup Wayve.

Odyssey, founded in 2023, now offers a range of universal models for a variety of use cases from video game creation to robotics. It is perhaps best known for producing rich interactive video through text prompts.

Backed by Amazon, the startup says AWS is now its preferred cloud provider and will optimize its models to run on AWS’s Trainium chips, a competitor to Nvidia’s AI chips.

In addition to the venture capital funds that participated in this unicorn round, Odyssey has amassed an impressive list of angel investors as well. These include Jeff Dean, Elad Gil, Gary Tan, Guillermo Rauch, and Cruise founder Kyle Vogt. The company has now raised $337 million to date.