Exclusive: AI cloud startup Ori is in talks to raise up to $80 million in funding, sources say

• AI cloud startup Ori is raising up to $80 million in new funding, two sources have told BI.
• Ori offers companies access to Nvidia GPUs, including the H100 and A100, to run AI applications.

AI cloud computing startup Ori is in talks to raise up to $80 million in a fresh funding round, two sources told Business Insider.

Launched in 2019, the startup builds infrastructure that gives companies access to Nvidia graphics processing units — known as GPUs — to train, deploy, and scale AI applications.

The deal is not yet finalized and details relating to round size could still change. Sources spoke to BI on condition of anonymity because details of the deal are still private.

According to a leaked deck seen by BI, Ori had about $42 million in annual recurring revenue as of the first quarter of 2024.

The UK-headquartered startup had projected to book over $300 million in annual revenue by the fourth quarter of 2024, the leaked deck stated.

The startup did not comment on the financing round.

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

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

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

The startup bills itself as a GPU cloud provider, and the H100 and A100 are among the Nvidia chips that it gives companies access to.

Startups building the "picks and shovels" of AI — such as the infrastructure layer needed to power the technology — are hot among investors.

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