KDDI Open Innovation Fund III Invests in Sakana AI
―Supporting the Research and Development of Generative AI Foundation Models Utilizing KDDI Assets―

January 16, 2024

KDDI CORPORATION

On January 16, 2024, KDDI invested in Sakana AI K.K. (Headquarters: Yamauchi Building 3F, 3-24-8 Nishi-shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo; CEO: David Ha; hereinafter "Sakana AI"), a company that is researching and developing foundation models in the generative AI field, through KDDI Open Innovation Fund III (operated by Global Brain Corporation; hereinafter "KOIF III"), which aims to invest in promising venture startups.

Sakana AI is a Japanese company researching and developing foundation models that was established by Llion Jones, author of the paper "Attention Is All You Need" published by Google in 2017 that sparked the generative AI revolution, and David Ha, author of the "World Models" paper. Khosla Ventures, a tier one American venture capital firm known as an initial investor in OpenAI, is also participating in the investment round, which is an extraordinary achievement for a Japanese company.

Through this investment, KDDI will support Sakana AI's research and development by providing data and other assets.

As "the company that customers feel closest to," KDDI will continue to promote business co-creation through investment in promising startup companies, and create new business models together with customers and partners.

MUGENLABO Magazine
Sakana AI - Building AI Models Equipped With Advanced Adaptability by Combining Many Small AIs (in Japanese only)

(Reference)

• ■Overview of Sakana AI

  • (1)

    • Company name

      : Sakana AI K.K.

  • (2)

    • Headquarters

      : Yamauchi Building 3F, 3-24-8 Nishi-shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo

  • (3)

    • Date founded

      : July 7, 2023

  • (4)

    • Business activities

      : Research and development of foundation models

  • (5)

    • CEO

      : David Ha

  • (6)

    • URL

      : https://sakana.ai/

• ■About KDDI Open Innovation Fund

  KDDI Open Innovation Fund is a corporate venture fund that supports a broad range of venture companies. The currently active KDDI Open Innovation Fund III focuses on areas of entertainment, home, IoT, big data, and Fintech with a total operating fund of 20 billion yen.