OpenAI And Benchmark Back New Startups From Ex-OpenAI Staffers
Two and a half years ago, Liam Fedus was part of the team that helped create ChatGPT and kicked off a frenzy around artificial intelligence. Now, he's among the growing group of ex-OpenAI employees seizing on the AI investment boom with startups of their own.
Fedus, OpenAI's former vice president of research for post-training, is raising more than $100 million to launch a company called Periodic Labs that's focused on AI for material science, according to people familiar with the matter. The round is being led by OpenAI and will value the new startup at about $1 billion, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private information. Fedus is working with Ekin Dogus Cubuk, a former research scientist at Google DeepMind.
At the same time, another group of lesser-known OpenAI employees recently left the company and have raised seed funding for a new startup from the prominent venture capital firm Benchmark, according to people familiar with the matter. The new company is focused on reinforcement learning, a technique that helps AI systems learn to make decisions through trial and error, the people said. The group includes Rhythm Garg, Linden Li and Yash Patil. The name of the company could not be learned.
Over the past year, there has been a series of departures from OpenAI to launch or join a new crop of AI companies, drawing comparisons to the influence of the so-called “PayPal mafia.” Former OpenAI executives and rank-and-file staffers have left to form startups focused on education, audio software and cutting-edge AI models. Investors have lined up to back these businesses, reflecting heightened interest in all things AI – and OpenAI.
Representatives for the two new startups didn't respond to requests for comment. OpenAI declined to comment. Benchmark did not respond to a request for comment. The Information earlier reported that Periodic Labs was seeking funding.
One of the most notable new companies is Thinking Machines Lab from Mira Murati, who stepped down as OpenAI's chief technology officer late last year. Her secretive startup is raising more than $1 billion from investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, at a $10 billion valuation, according to people familiar with the matter. Terms of the deal could still change. Thinking Machines Lab declined to comment.
Out of the nearly 30 current staff members listed in a blog post unveiling the startup earlier this year, more than a dozen were previously at OpenAI, according to those employees' public LinkedIn profiles. More have joined since.
Murati isn't the only former employee commanding a high valuation from investors eager to replicate OpenAI's success. Ilya Sutskever, the former OpenAI chief scientist largely credited with developing the company's core technology, has raised billions of dollars in venture funding for a new AI research lab at a valuation over $30 billion, Bloomberg News has reported.
That makes Sutskever's firm one of the world's most valuable AI startups — behind the likes of xAI Corp. and Anthropic, both of which were founded by people with early ties to OpenAI. The ChatGPT maker, valued at $300 billion, remains at the top of the list.
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