OpenAI veterans have quietly entered the venture capital scene with a new fund, Zero Shot, aiming to raise $100 million to back emerging AI startups. The fund, whose name nods to the AI concept of “zero-shot learning,” has already made its first investments, signaling a strategic push by former OpenAI engineers into the startup ecosystem.
The founding team includes notable OpenAI alumni: Evan Morikawa, former head of applied engineering during the launches of DALL·E and ChatGPT; Andrew Mayne, OpenAI’s original prompt engineer and founder of the AI consultancy Interdimensional; and Shawn Jain, ex-OpenAI researcher and founder of GenAI startup Synthefy. They are joined by seasoned venture capitalist Kelly Kovacs and Brett Rounsaville, previously of Twitter and Disney, who also leads operations at Interdimensional.
The idea for Zero Shot grew from years of collaboration and consulting work. “Some of our friends were coming out of OpenAI and interested in doing companies,” said Mayne. With firsthand insight into AI technology and the challenges startups face, the founders identified gaps in the market and decided to create a fund that could strategically back the next generation of AI builders.
Zero Shot has already backed early-stage ventures, including Worktrace AI, led by former OpenAI product manager Angela Jiang, and Foundry Robotics, focused on AI-enhanced manufacturing. A third investment remains under wraps. The fund’s founders emphasize their ability to pick high-potential startups while avoiding hype-driven areas, such as certain digital twin and vibe-coding platforms, where they believe existing models already offer comparable solutions.
The fund’s credibility is further reinforced by a lineup of advisors, including former OpenAI executives Diane Yoon, Steve Dowling, and Luke Miller, who will receive a share of the fund’s carried interest. By combining insider knowledge with strategic investing, Zero Shot aims to influence the AI landscape significantly, bridging the gap between promising innovation and market-ready solutions.
source: techcrunch