Exclusive: AI-Cloud Startup Ori In Talks To Raise Up To $80 Million

• AI-cloud startup Ori is raising up to $80 million in new funding, two sources told BI.
• Ori gives businesses access to Nvidia GPUs, including the H100 and A100, to run AI applications.
• AI infrastructure startups are attracting significant investor interest.

Ori, an AI-cloud-computing startup, is in talks to raise up to $80 million in a new round of funding, two people familiar with the matter told Business Insider.

Launched in 2019, the startup is building an infrastructure that gives companies access to Nvidia GPUs to train, deploy and scale AI applications.

The deal is not yet finalized and the details of the size of the round could still change. People with knowledge of the matter spoke to BI on condition of anonymity because details of the transaction are still private. Their identity is known to us.

According to a pitch deck that was seen by BI, Ori had recorded more than $40 million in annual recurring revenue starting in the first quarter of 2024.

The UK-based startup did not comment on the funding round.

Instead, Ori co-founder and CEO Mahdi Yahya told BI that the startup was “deeply committed to growing sovereign cloud AI in the UK”, referring to a type of cloud computing that guarantees that data is stored locally and is not transferred across borders without authorization. .

Yahya added: “I was delighted to be at 10 Downing St recently. to discuss UK AI policy. Our plan is to invest nine figures in UK AI infrastructure over the next 24 months.”

Ori previously raised $10.4 million in 2021 at a post-money valuation of $39 million, per PitchBook.

The startup bills itself as a GPU-cloud provider, and the H100 and A100 are among the Nvidia chips it’s giving businesses access to.

Startups doing the work of AI — such as the infrastructure layer needed to power the technology — are hot among investors.

Ori is among a group of GPU vendors and semiconductor startups that have been in talks to secure funding in 2024. In May, its rival AI infrastructure startup CoreWeave secured $7.5 billion in funding through debt from Blackstone just weeks after securing $1.1 billion in equity. .