# Safe Superintelligence's $2 Billion Round (2025)

Safe Superintelligence (SSI), a company focused on safely developing superintelligent AI, raised a $2 billion funding round in 2025 at a $50 billion valuation, with investors including Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.

Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI) is an American artificial intelligence company founded in 2024 by Ilya Sutskever, former chief scientist of OpenAI; Daniel Gross, former head of Apple's AI efforts; and Daniel Levy, an investor and former AI researcher at OpenAI. The company's stated mission is to focus exclusively on safely developing superintelligence - a computer-based agent that surpasses human intelligence. SSI operates with a small team split between Palo Alto, California, and Tel Aviv, Israel.

In 2025, SSI completed a $2 billion funding round at a $50 billion valuation, representing a significant jump from its March 2025 valuation of $30 billion. The round included participation from [Sequoia Capital](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/sequoia-capital) and [Andreessen Horowitz](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/andreessen-horowitz), among others. The new capital was earmarked for expanding compute capacity and hiring top research talent, as competition for AI experts intensified across the industry.

## History

SSI traces its origins to events at [OpenAI](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/openai) in late 2023 and 2024. In November 2023, Sutskever voted to remove [Sam Altman](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/sam-altman) as [OpenAI](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/openai) CEO. Sutskever compiled a 70-page dossier alleging a pattern of untrustworthy behavior by Altman and argued that [OpenAI](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/openai) was drifting from its original safety mission to pursue commercialization, including seeking billions from Gulf Cooperation Council sovereign wealth funds for a [Nvidia](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/nvidia)-competing chip. After Altman's ouster and subsequent return, Sutskever publicly apologized for his role, then left [OpenAI](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/openai) on May 15, 2024.

On June 19, 2024, Sutskever announced on X the formation of SSI with Levy (who had also worked at [OpenAI](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/openai)) and Gross. The company's [AI safety](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/ai-safety) focus attracted immediate attention. In September 2024, SSI revealed it had raised $1 billion from investors including SV Angel, DST Global, [Sequoia Capital](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/sequoia-capital), and [Andreessen Horowitz](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/andreessen-horowitz). At that point, SSI had roughly 20 employees and no revenue.

In March 2025, a funding round led by Greenoaks Capital valued SSI at $30 billion, six times its previous valuation. The round overshadowed concerns about the company's lack of revenue and tiny workforce, driven largely by Sutskever's reputation in AI.

In April 2025, [Google Cloud](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/google-cloud) announced a partnership to provide Tensor Processing Units for SSI's research. In the first half of 2025, [Meta Platforms](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/meta) attempted to acquire SSI, but Sutskever rebuffed the offer. In July 2025, Gross left SSI to join [Meta](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/meta) Superintelligence Labs, and Sutskever assumed the role of CEO of SSI.

## 2025 $2 Billion Round

The $2 billion round, finalized in 2025, came amid a surge in AI funding across the industry. Participating investors included [Sequoia Capital](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/sequoia-capital) and [Andreessen Horowitz](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/andreessen-horowitz), both of which had also backed SSI's earlier rounds. The round valued SSI at $50 billion, reflecting continued investor appetite for ventures led by prominent AI researchers, even with no product or revenue.

SSI planned to allocate the funds to building out compute infrastructure - a necessity for training [superintelligent](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/superintelligence) systems - and to expanding its research team beyond its initial roughly 20-person staff. The valuation implied a premium for SSI's singular focus on [safe](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/ai-safety) [superintelligence](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/superintelligence) over more commercially diversified labs like [Anthropic](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/anthropic) or [OpenAI](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/openai).

## Culture and Strategy

SSI's website describes the company as the "world's first straight-shot SSI lab," emphasizing freedom from "management overhead or product cycles" and insulation from "short-term commercial pressures." Employees are discouraged from listing their affiliation on LinkedIn, ostensibly to reduce poaching risks amid intense competition for AI talent.

The company's US headquarters are at 317 University Avenue, Palo Alto, California. In February 2025, SSI leased offices at 144 Menachem Begin Road in Midtown Tel Aviv, Israel, establishing a second research hub.

SSI's approach contrasts with that of larger labs that invest in near-term products like [large language models](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/large-language-model) for chatbots. Instead, SSI aims to pursue fundamental research toward AGI and eventually [superintelligence](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/superintelligence), with safety as a core constraint. This mission aligns with concerns about [existential risks from AI](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/existential-risk-from-ai) and has attracted researchers who share those priorities.

## Compute Partnership

In 2025, SSI struck an early compute partnership with [Google Cloud](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/google-cloud) for Tensor Processing Units. Later, on July 27, 2026, SSI announced a strategic partnership with [Nvidia](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/nvidia) that would scale SSI's compute by "an order of magnitude" and include a planned $5 billion investment. The deal underscored the growing importance of compute access for frontier AI labs, especially following the [DeepSeek R1](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/deepseek-r1-2025) release that demonstrated efficient training methods.

These partnerships positioned SSI to compete for state-of-the-art hardware alongside other labs like [OpenAI](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/openai), [Meta](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/meta), and [Google DeepMind](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/google-deepmind). The [Nvidia](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/nvidia) deal, in particular, was noteworthy given [Nvidia](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/nvidia)'s dominance in AI chips.

## Leadership

Ilya Sutskever, co-founder and CEO (from July 2025), previously co-founded [OpenAI](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/openai) and led its AI safety efforts. His departure from [OpenAI](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/openai) followed the Altman controversy and was widely covered in tech media.

Daniel Levy, co-founder, had been an investor and researcher at [OpenAI](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/openai). Daniel Gross, co-founder, had led AI efforts at [Apple](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/apple) and later departed to [Meta](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/meta) in July 2025.

## Impact and Reception

SSI's rapid valuation growth - from $5 billion in September 2024 to $30 billion in March 2025 and $50 billion by late 2025 - reflected a broader trend of surging investment in AI startups focused on fundamental research. Critics questioned whether such valuations were justified without revenue, but proponents pointed to Sutskever's track record and the scarcity of researchers capable of approaching [superintelligence](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/superintelligence).

SSI also influenced industry dynamics: its success and philosophy contributed to a renewed emphasis on [AI safety](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/ai-safety) in mainstream AI discourse, and its hiring practices (e.g., LinkedIn concealment) were adopted by other startups. The company's rejection of [Meta](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/meta)'s acquisition attempt signaled that top AI researchers were willing to remain independent even at the cost of potential financial windfalls.

## See Also

- [AI safety](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/ai-safety)
- [Artificial general intelligence](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/artificial-general-intelligence)
- [Existential risk from AI](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/existential-risk-from-ai)
- [OpenAI](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/openai)
- [Superintelligence](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/superintelligence)
- [Ilya Sutskever](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/ilya-sutskever)

## External links

- [Wikipedia: Safe Superintelligence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe_Superintelligence)

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Source: https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/safe-superintelligence-2025-2b-round
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
Last updated: 2026-10-25T00:19:34.257292+00:00