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BUSINESS PRODUCTS & SERVICES
omidyar.com

Investments

334

Portfolio Exits

50

Funds

3

Partners & Customers

10

About Omidyar Network

The Omidyar Group represents the philanthropic, personal and professional interests of Pierre and Pam Omidyar. The Omidyars' work and activities are wide-ranging, but united by a common set of values - a deeply rooted belief in humanity, the conviction that every person should be treated with respect and dignity, and a vision for positive change powered by the individual. The firm invests in entrepreneurs who are developing innovative solutions that enable meaningful peer-to-peer interaction, provide efficient access to life-enhancing products and services, and facilitate the availability and exchange of trustworthy information.

Headquarters Location

1991 Broadway Street Suite 200

Redwood City, California, 94063,

United States

650-482-2500

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Latest Omidyar Network News

Foundations seek to advance AI for good - and also protect the world from its threats

Aug 14, 2023

Internet 12 Aug 2023 Although hundreds of millions of philanthropic dollars have been committed to ethical AI efforts, influencing tech companies and governments remains a massive challenge. — AP While technology experts sound the alarm on the pace of artificial-intelligence development, philanthropists - including long-established foundations and tech billionaires - have been responding with an uptick in grants. Much of the philanthropy is focused on what is known as technology for good or "ethical AI,” which explores how to solve or mitigate the harmful effects of artificial-intelligence systems. Some scientists believe AI can be used to predict climate disasters and discover new drugs to save lives. Others are warning that the large language models could soon upend white-collar professions, fuel misinformation, and threaten national security. What philanthropy can do to influence the trajectory of AI is starting to emerge. Billionaires who earned their fortunes in technology are more likely to support projects and institutions that emphasise the positive outcomes of AI, while foundations not endowed with tech money have tended to focus more on AI’s dangers. For example, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and wife, Wendy Schmidt, have committed hundreds of millions of dollars to artificial-intelligence grantmaking programs housed at Schmidt Futures to "accelerate the next global scientific revolution.” In addition to committing US$125mil (RM573.38mil) to advance research into AI, last year the philanthropic venture announced a US$148mil (RM678.88mil) program to help postdoctoral fellows apply AI to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Also in the AI enthusiast camp is the Patrick McGovern Foundation, named after the late billionaire who founded the International Data Group and one of a few philanthropies that has made artificial intelligence and data science an explicit grantmaking priority. In 2021, the foundation committed US$40mil (RM183.48mil) to help nonprofits use artificial intelligence and data to advance "their work to protect the planet, foster economic prosperity, ensure healthy communities,” according to a news release from the foundation. McGovern also has an internal team of AI experts who work to help nonprofits use the technology to improve their programs. "I am an incredible optimist about how these tools are going to improve our capacity to deliver on human welfare,” says Vilas Dhar, president of Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. "What I think philanthropy needs to do, and civil society writ large, is to make sure we realise that promise and opportunity - to make sure these technologies don’t merely become one more profit-making sector of our economy but rather are invested in furthering human equity.” Salesforce is also interested in helping nonprofits use AI. The software company announced last month that it will award US$2mil (RM9.17mil) to education, workforce, and climate organisations "to advance the equitable and ethical use of trusted AI.” Billionaire entrepreneur and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is another big donor who believes AI can improve humanity and has funded research centres at Stanford University and the University of Toronto to achieve that goal. He is betting AI can positively transform areas like health care ("giving everyone a medical assistant”) and education ("giving everyone a tutor”), he told the New York Times in May. The enthusiasm for AI solutions among tech billionaires is not uniform, however. EBay founder Pierre Omidyar has taken a mixed approach through his Omidyar Network, which is making grants to nonprofits using the technology for scientific innovation as well as those trying to protect data privacy and advocate for regulation. "One of the things that we’re trying really hard to think about is how do you have good AI regulation that is both sensitive to the type of innovation that needs to happen in this space but also sensitive to the public accountability systems,” says Anamitra Deb, managing director at the Omidyar Network. Grantmakers that hold a more sceptical or negative perspective on AI are also not a uniform group; however, they tend to be foundations unaffiliated with the tech industry. The Ford, MacArthur, and Rockefeller foundations number among several grantmakers funding nonprofits examining the harmful effects of AI. For example, computer scientists Timnit Gebru and Joy Buolamwini, who conducted pivotal research on racial and gender bias from facial-recognition tools – which persuaded Amazon, IBM, and other companies to pull back on the technology in 2020 – have received sizable grants from them and other big, established foundations. Gebru launched the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute in 2021 to research AI’s harmful effects on marginalised groups "free from Big Tech’s pervasive influence.” The institute raised US$3.7mil (RM16.97mil) in initial funding from the MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, Kapor Center, Open Society Foundations, and the Rockefeller Foundation. (The Ford, MacArthur, and Open Society foundations are financial supporters of the Chronicle.) Buolamwini is continuing research on and advocacy against artificial-intelligence and facial-recognition technology through her Algorithmic Justice League, which also received at least US$1.9mil (RM8.72mil) in support from the Ford, MacArthur, and Rockefeller foundations as well as from the Alfred P. Sloan and Mozilla foundations. "These are all people and organisations that I think have really had a profound impact on the AI field itself but also really caught the attention of policymakers as well,” says Eric Sears, who oversees MacArthur’s grants related to artificial intelligence. The Ford Foundation also launched a Disability x Tech Fund through Borealis Philanthropy, which is supporting efforts to fight bias against people with disabilities in algorithms and artificial intelligence. There are also AI sceptics among the tech elite awarding grants. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has warned AI could result in "civilisational destruction.” In 2015, he gave US$10mil (RM45.87mil) to the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit that aims to prevent "existential risk” from AI, and spearheaded a recent letter calling for a pause on AI development. Open Philanthropy, a foundation started by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife, Cari Tuna, has provided majority support to the Center for AI Safety, which also recently warned about the "risk of extinction” associated with AI. A significant portion of foundation giving on AI is also directed at universities studying ethical questions. The Ethics and Governance of AI Initiative, a joint project of the MIT Media Lab and Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center, received US$26mil (RM119.26mil) from 2017 to 2022 from Luminate (the Omidyar Group), Reid Hoffman, Knight Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. (Hewlett is a financial supporter of the Chronicle.) The goal, according to a May 2022 report, was "to ensure that technologies of automation and machine learning are researched, developed, and deployed in a way which vindicates social values of fairness, human autonomy, and justice.” One university funding effort comes from the Kavli Foundation, which in 2021 committed US$1.5mil (RM6.88mil) a year for five years to two new centres focused on scientific ethics – with artificial intelligence as one priority area – at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Cambridge. The Knight Foundation announced in May it will spend US$30mil (RM137.61mil) to create a new ethical technology institute at Georgetown University to inform policymakers. Although hundreds of millions of philanthropic dollars have been committed to ethical AI efforts, influencing tech companies and governments remains a massive challenge. "Philanthropy is just a drop in the bucket compared to the Goliath-sized tech platforms, the Goliath-sized AI companies, the Goliath-sized regulators and policymakers that can actually take a crack at this,” says Deb of the Omidyar Network. Even with those obstacles, foundation leaders, researchers, and advocates largely agree that philanthropy can – and should – shape the future of AI. "The industry is so dominant in shaping not only the scope of development of AI systems in the academic space, they’re shaping the field of research,” says Sarah Myers West, managing director of the AI Now Institute. "And as policymakers are looking to really hold these companies accountable, it’s key to have funders step in and provide support to the organisations on the front lines to ensure that the broader public interest is accounted for.” – AP Subscribe now to our Premium Plan for an ad-free and unlimited reading experience! Topic:

Omidyar Network Investments

334 Investments

Omidyar Network has made 334 investments. Their latest investment was in ZestMoney as part of their Unattributed VC on July 7, 2023.

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Omidyar Network Investments Activity

investments chart

Date

Round

Company

Amount

New?

Co-Investors

Sources

7/4/2023

Unattributed VC

ZestMoney

$5M

Yes

2

4/10/2023

Convertible Note

Doubtnut

$2.5M

No

1

11/16/2022

Series C

Goodera

$10M

No

23

7/13/2022

Series C

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$99M

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10

1/20/2022

Series B

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$99M

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10

Date

7/4/2023

4/10/2023

11/16/2022

7/13/2022

1/20/2022

Round

Unattributed VC

Convertible Note

Series C

Series C

Series B

Company

ZestMoney

Doubtnut

Goodera

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Amount

$5M

$2.5M

$10M

$99M

$99M

New?

Yes

No

No

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Co-Investors

Sources

2

1

23

10

10

Omidyar Network Portfolio Exits

50 Portfolio Exits

Omidyar Network has 50 portfolio exits. Their latest portfolio exit was Spruce on August 10, 2023.

Date

Exit

Companies

Valuation
Valuations are submitted by companies, mined from state filings or news, provided by VentureSource, or based on a comparables valuation model.

Acquirer

Sources

8/10/2023

Acquired

$99M

1

4/27/2023

Acquired

$99M

5

4/4/2023

Acquired

$99M

3

11/15/2022

Acquired

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$99M

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10

10/17/2022

Acquired

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$99M

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10

Date

8/10/2023

4/27/2023

4/4/2023

11/15/2022

10/17/2022

Exit

Acquired

Acquired

Acquired

Acquired

Acquired

Companies

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Valuation

$99M

$99M

$99M

$99M

$99M

Acquirer

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Sources

1

5

3

10

10

Omidyar Network Fund History

3 Fund Histories

Omidyar Network has 3 funds, including Latin American Alliance for Civic Technology Fund.

Closing Date

Fund

Fund Type

Status

Amount

Sources

2/21/2017

Latin American Alliance for Civic Technology Fund

$3.5M

1

1/10/2017

Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Fund

$99M

10

12/31/2005

Omidyar Network

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$99M

10

Closing Date

2/21/2017

1/10/2017

12/31/2005

Fund

Latin American Alliance for Civic Technology Fund

Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Fund

Omidyar Network

Fund Type

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Status

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Amount

$3.5M

$99M

$99M

Sources

1

10

10

Omidyar Network Partners & Customers

10 Partners and customers

Omidyar Network has 10 strategic partners and customers. Omidyar Network recently partnered with Journal of Online Trust and Safety on October 10, 2022.

Date

Type

Business Partner

Country

News Snippet

Sources

10/28/2022

Client

Omidyar Network supports the first of its kind Journal of Online Trust and Safety - Omidyar Network

`` The Journal and Safety is helping to facilitate collaborative research , share the learning , and catalyze new innovation so that we , as a society , can maximize tech 's benefits , minimize its harms , and protect our human rights , '' said Wafa Ben-Hassine , principal of Responsible Technology at Omidyar Network .

1

2/16/2022

Partner

United States

Major Philanthropies Launch Effort to Establish Multidisciplinary Centers at Leading Academic Institutions Focused on Reimagining Capitalism, Economy, and Society to Address 21st Century Challenges

The grants announced today from the Hewlett Foundation and Omidyar Network will allow the academic centers to begin staffing up and building out their research programs , partnerships , and course offerings .

2

12/10/2021

Partner

United States

Omidyar Network joins as a member of the DPGA » Digital Public Goods Alliance

We at the Digital Public Goods Alliance look forward to continued partnership with Omidyar Network through 2022 .

1

5/6/2019

Partner

United States

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10

11/1/2018

Partner

United States

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10

Date

10/28/2022

2/16/2022

12/10/2021

5/6/2019

11/1/2018

Type

Client

Partner

Partner

Partner

Partner

Business Partner

Country

United States

United States

United States

United States

News Snippet

Omidyar Network supports the first of its kind Journal of Online Trust and Safety - Omidyar Network

`` The Journal and Safety is helping to facilitate collaborative research , share the learning , and catalyze new innovation so that we , as a society , can maximize tech 's benefits , minimize its harms , and protect our human rights , '' said Wafa Ben-Hassine , principal of Responsible Technology at Omidyar Network .

Major Philanthropies Launch Effort to Establish Multidisciplinary Centers at Leading Academic Institutions Focused on Reimagining Capitalism, Economy, and Society to Address 21st Century Challenges

The grants announced today from the Hewlett Foundation and Omidyar Network will allow the academic centers to begin staffing up and building out their research programs , partnerships , and course offerings .

Omidyar Network joins as a member of the DPGA » Digital Public Goods Alliance

We at the Digital Public Goods Alliance look forward to continued partnership with Omidyar Network through 2022 .

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Sources

1

2

1

10

10

Omidyar Network Team

19 Team Members

Omidyar Network has 19 team members, including , .

Name

Work History

Title

Status

Pam Omidyar

Founder

Current

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Name

Pam Omidyar

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Work History

Title

Founder

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Status

Current

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