The secret artificial intelligence startup, founded by former Israeli and one of Openai’s co-founders, Ilya Sutskever, is in talks to raise capital at a $20 billion valuation. This incredible rating, reminiscent of the peak investment frenzy of 2021, is surprising except that there are two locations, given that little is known about the company so far.
Sutskever, who served as the Chief Scientist at Openai and played a key role in his breakthrough, left the company in May 2024. Shortly afterwards, he announced the launch of his own startup, Safe Superintelligence. The company has already raised $1 billion at a $5 billion valuation. This is primarily based on Sutskever’s reputation as a scientific force behind Openai’s advances. If the latest funding round is realized, it will mark a four-fold increase in valuation within just a few months.
Satsucaiber, who moved to Israel as a child before moving to Canada, had to work together with two other former Israelis, Daniel Levy and Daniel Gross, to be safe. The first round of fundraising was led by Silicon Valley powerhouses Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz and DST Global, an investment company for billionaire Yuri Milner.
Despite the rising ratings, the company has not yet announced any technology or products. So far, they have only announced employment efforts, including the Tel Aviv Development Center. According to Sutskever, Safe Superintelligence aims to build AI models that outperform human intelligence for human interests. This statement suggests possible philosophical differences with Openai CEO Sam Altman, particularly with regard to the risks and boundaries of advanced AI development.
The timing of funding is an interesting challenge for the Western AI industry. It’s only weeks after the emergence of China’s Deepshek, and claims that with just millions of investments it has achieved results comparable to Openai’s model.
