World model maker Odyssey nabs $1.45B valuation backed by Amazon and other big names

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

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

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