Scoop: 3 Ex-OpenAI Staffers Raise $20M For New Startup Applied Compute
The pre-launch reinforcement learning startup founded by Rhythm Garg, Linden Li and Yash Patil, is now valued at $100 million -- and has received investment interest at 5x that price, sources say.
A new startup led by three young former technical staffers at OpenAI has raised pre-launch funding that values it at $100 million, Upstarts has learned.
Applied Compute, the new company founded by Rhythm Garg, Linden Li and Yash Patil, has raised $20 million in a funding round led by Benchmark partner Victor Lazarte, sources tell Upstarts.
Lazarte is joining the startup’s board as a result of the round, which is effectively a Series A in its size and scope. Sequoia also participated in the raise, alongside VC firms Conviction, Hanabi Capital and Definition, as well as solo capitalist Zach Frankel, the sources add.
Since the still-unannounced round came together, Applied Compute’s young founders – all three of whom are recent Stanford University students who worked on different technical projects within OpenAI – have already fielded interest from investors to pile on at valuations of $200 million and even $500 million valuations, two of the sources say.
Applied Compute’s founders and investors didn’t respond to comment requests, nor did OpenAI.
But through conversations with at least six sources, Upstarts can provide early insight into what their mysterious startup is building – as well as the identities of several of its early test users.