In a nutshell, DeepMind makes money by selling its research to Google parent company Alphabet, but it does so in a complicated way. The company has been bankrolled by Google since 2014, but continues to incur losses despite the amount of money it has invested.
Alphabet wants every last drop of revenue from DeepMind, even though it is already writing off almost $1 billion in debt this year. While DeepMind does not sell directly to consumers, it does deal with Alphabet-owned entities, including Google.
The company was acquired by Alphabet in 2014 for PS400 million. It has since paid off its debt and is now supplying expertise for other Alphabet projects. One such project is the Waymo autonomous car, which uses DeepMind’s technology. But the technology that it uses to do so is general-purpose and takes decades to develop fully. As a result, its research has not translated to money-making ventures.
Google is a hugely profitable company and Alphabet relies on the technology developed by DeepMind to boost its profits. DeepMind is the largest company in Alphabet. The company is the world’s most valuable company and produces 99 percent of its revenue. Its profits have skyrocketed over the past few years. However, there is some doubt about how DeepMind makes money. The company has not disclosed its scale, so far. However, it does appear to be working on solving the protein folding problem.
Alphabet has pledged to pay DeepMind’s debt in 2020 in the event that its AI research proves profitable. Google’s investment strategy is proving successful: in 2018, DeepMind posted a loss of $680 million and doubled its revenue in just one year. This sudden growth is likely to be a temporary blip. The company’s debt is worth more than PS1.1 billion.