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‘HE DOESN’T NEED VC IN HIS LIFE’: HOW MIDJOURNEY’S FOUNDER BUILT AN AI WINNER
WHILE REJECTING VENTURE CAPITAL

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


DAVID HOLZ HAS BECOME AN ‘AI CELEBRITY’ BY GENERATING OVER $200 MILLION IN
REVENUES WITH JUST 40 EMPLOYEES—ALL WITHOUT RAISING A CENT FROM OUTSIDE
INVESTORS.




‘HE DOESN’T NEED VC IN HIS LIFE’: HOW MIDJOURNEY’S FOUNDER BUILT AN AI WINNER
WHILE REJECTING VENTURE CAPITAL

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


DAVID HOLZ HAS BECOME AN ‘AI CELEBRITY’ BY GENERATING OVER $200 MILLION IN
REVENUES WITH JUST 40 EMPLOYEES—ALL WITHOUT RAISING A CENT FROM OUTSIDE
INVESTORS.


Midjourney CEO David Holz has bucked the tide among AI founders by boxing out
venture capitalists. Midjourney art by Clark Miller
By
Kate Clark
 * kate@theinformation.c­om
 * Profile and archive →
 * Follow Kate on Twitter


Subscribe Now
Sept. 5, 2023 6:15 AM PDT


Ever since David Holz founded Midjourney in mid-2021, venture capitalists have
been practically begging him to take their money.

On top of cold-calling and emailing Holz incessantly, some have asked his inner
circle for “warm” introductions. Others have preemptively sent him term sheets.
A lucky few have landed meetings with the 35-year-old CEO of Midjourney, which
uses machine-learning models to generate uncanny, hyperrealistic images. Index
Ventures partner Mike Volpi scored a dinner with Holz at rustic Italian cafe
Cotogna in San Francisco last year, “but he was pretty straightforward in his
intention to not raise money,” said Volpi.

By adamantly (if politely) rejecting the advances of venture capitalists, Holz
has bucked the tide among artificial intelligence startups, the top tier of
which has raised more than $17 billion in fresh capital in recent years,
according to The Information’s Generative AI database. Holz has also succeeded
in making Midjourney a source of intense intrigue in VC land, where the
company’s profitability and astronomical growth have enticed investors.


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