By Sally Goldman
In a move that signals the next frontier of artificial intelligence, Jeff Bezos’ secretive startup Project Prometheus is on the verge of closing a massive $10 billion funding round that would value the company at approximately $38 billion. The round, first reported by the Financial Times and confirmed across major outlets, includes participation from heavyweight investors like BlackRock and JPMorgan Chase.
This isn’t just another AI funding story. Project Prometheus is laser-focused on physical AI systems designed to understand, simulate, and interact with the real world targeting high-stakes sectors like manufacturing, aerospace engineering, semiconductor production, automobiles, and industrial automation. Unlike today’s dominant large language models that excel at text and chat, Prometheus aims to bridge the digital and physical realms, accelerating engineering, design, and production processes that have long been limited by costly physical prototyping and trial-and-error.
Launched in November 2025, Project Prometheus hit the ground running with $6.2 billion in initial seed funding (partly from Bezos himself). Bezos isn’t just an investor he serves as co-CEO alongside Vik Bajaj, a physicist, chemist, and former Google X executive who previously co-founded Alphabet’s health AI venture Verily and is an adjunct professor at Stanford.
In just five months, the San Francisco-based startup has grown to over 120 employees, recruiting top talent from OpenAI, xAI, Meta, DeepMind, and other elite AI labs. It has already acquired an agentic computing startup to bolster its video-language-action (VLA) models, essential for real-time robot and industrial system control.
The $10 billion raise is impressive on its own, but it’s only part of Bezos’ vision. Reports reveal he is in early discussions to raise up to $100 billion for a separate investment fund. The goal? Acquire or invest in industrial and manufacturing companies then deploy Prometheus’ AI to supercharge efficiency, automation, and productivity.
Bezos has already traveled to the Middle East and Singapore to court sovereign wealth funds and major asset managers. This full-stack strategy combining cutting-edge AI with capital, proprietary data from acquired companies, and large-scale automation positions Prometheus as more than a software play. It’s an ambitious attempt to re-industrialize and modernize physical supply chains.
As one observer noted in coverage of the story, “This isn’t just AI, it’s a full-stack industrial strategy combining capital, data, and automation.”
Why This Matters
– Physical AI is the next battleground. While the world obsesses over chatbots and generative content, real economic impact increasingly lies in robotics, autonomous systems, and smart manufacturing. Project Prometheus directly competes with efforts like Tesla’s Optimus robots and other “embodied AI” initiatives but with Bezos’ operational experience, deep pockets, and Wall Street backing.
– Investor confidence is sky-high. The involvement of BlackRock and JPMorgan Chase in the current round signals mainstream institutional money moving beyond pure software AI into hardware-integrated, real-world applications.
– Bezos is all-in operationally.This marks his most significant hands-on role since stepping down as Amazon CEO in 2021. He’s not just writing checks he’s co-running the company.
The $10 billion round is expected to close soon, though terms could still shift. Prometheus remains tight-lipped a spokeswoman declined comment to multiple outlets but the momentum is unmistakable.
If successful, Project Prometheus could fundamentally reshape global manufacturing, reduce reliance on physical prototypes through hyper-accurate simulations, and unlock massive efficiency gains across industries that employ millions. It also hints at a broader “re-shoring” or Western re-industrialization thesis powered by AI.
