Ornn raises $33M to transform AI compute into a tradable commodity like oil

Ornn raises $33M to help companies buy and sell AI compute as a commodity like oil

Ornn raises $33M to help companies buy and sell AI compute as a commodity like oil Artificial intelligence startup Ornn AI Inc. made a big splash today as it raised $33 million in seed funding from Andreessen Horowitz's crypto-focused fund a16z and others to build out a marketplace for computing power. The round was co-led by Galaxy Ventures and saw participation from Nordstar and SV Angel, plus existing investors Crucible Capital, Vine Ventures, Link Ventures and Box Group. Ornn was founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduates Kush Bavaria and Wayne Nelms, who published a blog post on X explaining that they're building the world's first compute marketplace. The company first developed an index that tracks the cost of graphics processing units, which are one of the most vital resources for AI applications. The goal is to bring more transparency to a compute market that's plagued by supply limitations and unpredictable prices. "Right now, companies that need compute are shut out, overpaying or locked into opaque contracts they cannot benchmark or exit," the founders said. The data center operators that sell compute resources are also disadvantaged by the lack of a proper marketplace. "Operators are forced to underwrite tenants one at a time, even as usage shifts across clusters, regions and hardware types," Bavaria and Nelms explained. In a blog post announcing the round, a16z crypto said that most compute contracts are currently negotiated individually between buyers and sellers, and that the prices vary by deal. As a result, it's extremely difficult for data center operators to accurately forecast future revenue or manage risk when investing in more capacity. The founders say it took almost a century for the oil market to reach a point where prices were consistent and supply was transparent. But compute markets cannot afford to wait for even a fraction of that time. "The AI buildout is shaping up to be the largest reallocation of capital toward physical infrastructure in our lifetimes," the founders wrote. "And it is being financed without the price layer, the hedging tools, or the capital base that every prior infrastructure buildout required to scale." That's why Ornn is determined to build a proper marketplace for the compute industry that has all of those elements in place. The goal is to help companies buy compute power in the same fashion as how commodities like oil are traded. Its transaction-based compute index OCPI is designed to provide a settlement-grade benchmark that provides a single, trusted price for compute resources. "Risk transfer is facilitated through partners like ICE, which clears futures and options contracts that reference OCPI directly," the founders added. "With a benchmark and the tools to hedge it, capital can finally flow to compute capacity the way it flows to every other commodity." Alongside OCPI, the startup has built Ornn Compute, which is the actual marketplace that aggregates GPU capacity from across public clouds and neoclouds into a single platform, with a simple onboarding process for buyers. It also features a secondary market for transfers and on-demand sublets. "Operators receive diversified demand from a basket of tenants under one offtake contract rather than underwriting tenants one at a time," Bavaria and Nelms explained. "Buyers get exact visibility into the site, hardware configuration, and terms of every cluster they reserve. With this platform, dedicated GPU capacity becomes a liquid asset, and capacity that would otherwise sit idle can be put to work." Last month, Ornn was boosted when the New York Stock Exchange operator Intercontinental Exchange Inc. said it will be using its pricing index for compute futures contracts, adding legitimacy to its services. The proposal remains subject to regulatory approval. Going forward, Ornn said it will use the money from today's round to hire additional talent and expand its marketplace.

A16z crypto leads $33 million bet on compute marketplace Ornn

Compute marketplace Ornn has secured $33 million in a funding round led by a16z crypto, with participation from Galaxy Ventures and others. Founded by MIT graduates, Ornn aims to bring transparency to the computing power market, which is crucial for AI. The platform will allow data centers and cloud providers to trade compute capacity, similar to commodity markets. This funding will fuel talent acquisition and business expansion. Compute marketplace Ornn has raised $33 million in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz's crypto-focused fund, a16z crypto. The round also drew participation from Galaxy Ventures, Nordstar, and SV Angel, alongside existing investors Vine Ventures, Crucible Capital, Link Ventures, and Box Group, founders Kush Bavaria and Wayne Nelms said in a post on X. Founded in 2025 by MIT graduates, Ornn is building a marketplace for computing power. The company first developed an index that tracks the cost of graphics processing units (GPUs), a key compute resource for artificial intelligence (AI) workloads. The startup is trying to bring more transparency to a market where companies often struggle to access computing capacity at predictable prices. "Right now, companies that need compute are shut out, overpaying, or locked into opaque contracts they cannot benchmark or exit. Operators are forced to underwrite tenants one at a time, even as usage shifts across clusters, regions, and hardware types," the founders said. A16z crypto said in a blog post that compute pricing is currently negotiated individually (which varies deal by deal) between buyers and sellers, making it difficult for operators to accurately forecast revenue or manage risk when investing in new capacity. "All mature commodity markets work the same way. They first need reliable pricing data. Price discovery then enables risk transfer. And risk transfer enables efficient capacity allocation. This is what markets are for, and it is what Ornn is building," the founders added. The company received a boost last month when Intercontinental Exchange Inc., the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, said it plans to use Ornn's index for futures contracts, according to a Bloomberg report. The proposal remains subject to regulatory approval. Ornn said it will use the fresh capital to hire talent and expand the business. Its platform aims to let data centres, neocloud providers, and other participants buy and sell compute capacity in a way similar to how commodities such as oil are traded.