DeepMind Co-Founder's Startup 'Inflection AI' Secures $1.3B in Funding from Microsoft and Nvidia

Inflection AI has raised $1.3 billion from Microsoft Corp MSFT and Nvidia Corp NVDA, among others.

The new funding brings the total raised by the company to $1.525 billion.

One of DeepMind’s founders, Mustafa Suleyman, had set up the one-year-old artificial intelligence startup.  

CEO Suleyman hired from DeepMind, Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft.

The startup launched a chatbot called Pi, adding to the likes of OpenAI, Google, and Snap Inc SNAP, Financial Times reports.

With Nvidia joining its investment round, the startup, co-founded by LinkedIn creator Reid Hoffman, said it has access to 22,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs, the most sought-after AI industry today, costing $40,000 apiece. 

OpenAI reportedly sought $10 billion from Microsoft at a $29 billion valuation, a lead investor in the ChatGPT-maker.

Pi, Inflection’s chatbot, can have personal conversations with users directly via an app or through text, Meta Platforms, Inc META, WhatsApp, Instagram, or Facebook.

At its May launch, Suleyman described the chatbot as having the persona of a sympathetic sounding board rather than trying to provide information. The product is meant purely for casual conversation, which makes it safer and easier to control, Suleyman said. 

Suleyman founded Inflection after he quit Google in 2022.

Suleyman left DeepMind in 2019 following an independent investigation into bullying and harassment accusations against him.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons