Jeff Bezos Leads $72M Investment in AI Firm Toloka

Source Credit : Reuters

Jeff Bezos' personal firm, Bezos Expeditions, is spearheading a $72 million investment in the artificial intelligence data solutions company Toloka. Toloka announced this exciting news to Reuters on Wednesday as they aim to expand their business operations.

Toloka, a platform that leverages a network of human experts and testers to train and evaluate AI models, is a subsidiary of the Nasdaq-listed AI infrastructure firm Nebius Group. Toloka has collaborated with industry giants such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Anthropic to enhance the capabilities of artificial intelligence technologies.

Olga Megorskaya, the founder and CEO of Toloka, expressed that the strategic investment led by Bezos is a significant milestone that will propel the company's growth, especially in the U.S. market. This investment will also aid in the development of products through the collaboration of human experts and AI agents.

"There will always be the need for control, verification, and help from human experts to ensure that the result is actually of high quality," Megorskaya told Reuters.

Prior to completing the separation from Yandex, Nebius would have faced challenges in obtaining external investment from prominent figures such as Amazon founder Bezos, as U.S. sanctions prevented investments in Russia. However, chip giant Nvidia was one of the investors in a $700 million private placement that Nebius successfully raised late last year.

Mikhail Parakhin, the Chief Technology Officer of the Canadian e-commerce company Shopify, is joining the investment alongside Bezos Expeditions, as announced by Nebius. Parakhin will also be taking on the role of Executive Chairman on Toloka's new board of directors.

Nebius has announced its commitment to continue supporting Toloka as a shareholder, maintaining a substantial economic stake while relinquishing majority voting control.