Since its founding in 2021, OpenAI Startup Fund has raised $175 million for its main fund and secured an extra $114 million by 5 separate particular function autos, that are funding swimming pools for particular alternatives.
Not like many sizable tech firms, OpenAI says it doesn’t use the company’s money to invest in startups. The ChatGPT maker says its OpenAI Startup Fund is raised from outdoors buyers. This contains participation from vital OpenAI backer Microsoft, in addition to “different OpenAI companions,” in response to the fund’s web site.
The OpenAI Startup Fund, which is managed by a devoted staff, has to this point invested in over a dozen startups, in response to information suppliers PitchBook and Crunchbase and TechCrunch’s analysis.
The next firms have introduced investments from the OpenAI Startup Fund, organized alphabetically.
1X: This Norwegian humanoid robotic startup raised $23.5 million in a deal led by the OpenAI Startup Fund and Tiger World in early 2023. Nevertheless, OpenAI’s fund wasn’t named as a participant within the firm when it introduced its $100 million Series B in January.
Atmosphere Healthcare: This AI-powered medical note-taking startup introduced a $70 million Series B in February 2024, co-led by OpenAI’s fund and Kleiner Perkins. Atmosphere is amongst a variety of startups, together with Abridge, Nabla, Suki, and Microsoft-owned Nuance, which might be constructing AI medical scribes.
Anysphere (aka Cursor): In October 2023, OpenAI’s fund led the $8 million seed spherical into Anysphere, the maker of AI-powered coding assistant Cursor. OpenAI hasn’t been named as an investor within the firm’s subsequent rounds.
Chai Discovery: This startup, which is creating an open supply AI foundational mannequin for drug discovery, raised a $30 million in seed spherical led by Thrive Capital and OpenAI’s fund final September. The deal valued the 6-month-old Chai Discovery at $150 million.
Class Companion: This edtech startup raised a $4 million seed round in 2023 from OpenAI’s fund and a number of angels. It helps lecturers present fast, personalised suggestions to their college students.
Descript: The collaborative audio and video enhancing platform raised $50 million in a Series C round led by OpenAI’s fund shortly after ChatGPT was launched to the world in late 2022. Different buyers within the spherical included Andreessen Horowitz, Redpoint Ventures, Spark Capital, and ex-Y Combinator accomplice Daniel Gross. Descript hasn’t reported another capital raises since its Sequence C.
Determine AI: AI robotics startup Determine raised a $675 million Sequence B in February 2024 from Nvidia, OpenAI’s fund, Microsoft, and others. The spherical valued the corporate at $2.6 billion. Determine AI is now reportedly in talks to lift $1.5 billion at a $39.5 billion valuation.
Ghost Autonomy: This maker of autonomous driving software program raised a $55 million Sequence E in April 2023, and OpenAI’s fund invested $5 million of that, in response to PitchBook information. However the funding didn’t work out. A yr later the company shut down.
Harvey AI: This authorized tech startup raised a $21 million Series A in April 2023 from OpenAI’s fund and others. The fund additionally participated in three subsequent rounds, together with final month’s $300 million Sequence D, which valued Harvey at $3 billion.
Heeyo: Academic AI chatbot for teenagers Heeyo introduced that it raised $3.5 million from OpenAI’s fund, Alexa Fund, Pear VC, and different buyers in August.
Kick: This firm is creating AI brokers that it says can “self-drive” bookkeeping processes. It raised a $9 million seed spherical co-led by Normal Catalyst and OpenAI’s fund in October.
Mem: This AI-powered note-taking startup raised a $23.5 million Series A spherical in November 2022, led by OpenAI’s fund. Mem hasn’t reported any subsequent funding rounds.
Milo: This startup is creating an AI-powered private assistant that helps dad and mom arrange and hold observe of their youngsters’ actions. Milo raised an undisclosed amount of pre-seed and seed funding from OpenAI’s fund, YC, and others.
Bodily Intelligence: Foundational software program for robots startup Bodily Intelligence raised a $70 million seed spherical final March. OpenAI’s fund was a part of that and in addition participated within the firm’s $400 million Series A that valued the corporate at greater than $2 billion. Different buyers within the newest spherical included Lux Capital, Sequoia, and Jeff Bezos.
Converse: This AI-powered language studying app developer raised a $27 million Series B spherical in November 2022, led by OpenAI’s fund. In December, the fund participated in Converse’s $78 million Series C, which valued the corporate at $1 billion.
Thrive AI: Huffington Put up founder Arianna Huffington and OpenAI Startup Fund introduced final July that they teamed up on investing and building this “AI well being coach” startup. Thrive AI aimed to raise $10 million, in response to a regulatory submitting.
Unify: This gross sales know-how startup secured about $19 million in seed and Series A capital from the OpenAI Startup Fund, Thrive Capital, and Emergence.
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