Ex-OpenAI Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever's AI Startup Valued At $30 Billion In Latest Funding Round: Report

Ilya Sutskever, the co-founder and former chief scientist of OpenAI, is reportedly raising over $1 billion for his AI venture, Safe Superintelligence (SSI), pushing its valuation beyond $30 billion.

What Happened: San Francisco-based venture capital firm Greenoaks Capital Partners is leading the funding round, committing $500 million, reported Bloomberg, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The funding marks a significant leap from SSI's previous $5 billion valuation. However, the deal is still in negotiation and could be subject to changes.

Subscribe to the Benzinga Tech Trends newsletter to get all the latest tech developments delivered to your inbox.

Why It Matters: Sutskever had played a key role in OpenAI's leadership shake-up in 2023, which saw CEO Sam Altman briefly ousted before returning to the company.

He co-founded SSI in June 2024, shortly after leaving OpenAI. In September 2024, SSI raised $1 billion from major venture capital firms, including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital. 

Meanwhile, SoftBank Group is reportedly in talks to lead a new funding round for OpenAI, potentially raising $40 billion. This investment could value the ChatGPT creator at $300 billion, setting a record for a private company’s funding.

Elon Musk’s xAI reached a $50 billion valuation in November 2024. Perplexity AI, supported by Jeff Bezos, raised $500 million in December, bringing its valuation to $9 billion. Last month, it was reported that Anthropic, backed by Google, is in talks to secure $2 billion, potentially valuing it at $60 billion.

Photo Courtesy: Poetra.RH on Shutterstock.com

Check out more of Benzinga’s Consumer Tech coverage by following this link.

Read Next:

• Apple’s iPad Turns 15 Today: Here’s A Throwback To When Steve Jobs Explained Called It The ‘Third Category’ After Phones And Notebooks

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.