James Dacombe left sixth form after just two days at 16 and, less than a decade later, founded Olix, an AI chip startup valued at US$3.3 billion in its latest funding round, lifting the estimated value of his stake above $1 billion. The milestone came after London-based Olix raised £232 million ($312 million) in a funding round led by New York-based Fundomo that tripled the company's valuation to £2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) in six months. The round attracted investment from British chip designer Arm, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, Hudson River Trading and Sovereign AI, the U.K. government's investment vehicle for promising AI companies. According to an analysis of publicly available shareholding data cited by the Daily Mail, Dacombe owned more than one-third of Olix before the fundraising. At the company's latest valuation, his stake would be worth about £946 million ($1.27 billion), although his exact ownership after the funding round has not been disclosed. The funding also prompted congratulatory messages from his family. His mother, Jane, a freshwater ecologist at the Environment Agency, commented on LinkedIn: "An alchemy of your vision and drive together with an amazing team. So very proud of you," according to The Times. His sister Martha, who studied at the University of Cambridge and now works at a think tank, wrote: "Huge congrats! Very proud of you". Raised in Har