Artificial intelligence startup Ornn AI Inc. has raised $33 million in seed funding to build the world's first compute marketplace, treating GPU capacity like a commodity. The round was co-led by a16z crypto and Galaxy Ventures, with participation from Nordstar, SV Angel, Crucible Capital, Vine Ventures, Link Ventures and Box Group.
Founded by MIT graduates Kush Bavaria and Wayne Nelms, Ornn aims to solve opaque pricing and supply bottlenecks. The company launched a transaction-based compute index, OCPI, to provide a settlement-grade benchmark. With the New York Stock Exchange operator Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) set to offer futures and options contracts referencing OCPI, the market gains a hedging tool-subject to regulatory approval.
Ornn Compute aggregates GPU capacity from public clouds and neoclouds, giving buyers visibility into hardware configurations and terms, while operators get diversified demand under one contract rather than piecemeal underwriting. The platform also supports a secondary market for transfers and sublets. The fresh capital will be used to hire talent and expand the marketplace.