The OpenAI mafia: 18 startups founded by alumni

In the dynamic landscape of Silicon Valley, a new group of entrepreneurs is emerging, often referred to as the 'OpenAI mafia.' As the organization behind the revolutionary AI model ChatGPT, OpenAI has established itself as a leader in artificial intelligence. Recently, the company has been rumored to be negotiating a monumental $100 billion deal, which would elevate its valuation to over $850 billion. Since its inception a decade ago, OpenAI has seen numerous employees transition out to create their own companies. Some of these ventures have grown to become significant competitors, while others have attracted substantial investment even before launching a product. For instance, Thinking Machine Labs has raised millions based solely on investor interest. Aliisa Rosenthal, OpenAI's inaugural sales leader, recently discussed her commitment to leveraging her network of former colleagues to identify promising investment opportunities. Notably, Peter Deng, previous head of consumer products at OpenAI and now a general partner at Felicis, is already tapping into this expansive network. Among the notable startups founded by OpenAI alumni is Adept AI Labs, co-founded by David Luan, who served as OpenAI's engineering VP until 2020. The company, which specializes in creating AI tools for employees, received a remarkable $350 million in funding this year, achieving a valuation exceeding $1 billion. Luan later joined Amazon to lead their AI agents lab. The Amodei siblings, Dario and Daniela, left OpenAI in 2021 to establish Anthropic, a firm focused on AI safety. Anthropic has rapidly gained prominence and is now considered a major competitor to OpenAI, recently securing a $30 billion Series G funding round that brought its valuation to $380 billion. Additionally, three former OpenAI staffers—Rhythm Garg, Linden Li, and Yash Patil—have launched a startup called Applied Compute, which has successfully raised $20 million to develop AI agents for enterprises. Their venture is valued at $100 million after just ten months. Tim Shi, who worked on safe AGI at OpenAI, founded Cresta, which focuses on AI contact center solutions and has raised over $270 million from prominent venture capitalists. Other alumni, such as Jonas Schneider, have gone on to create companies like Daedalus, which specializes in advanced manufacturing technologies. The trend continues with other former OpenAI employees entering the startup ecosystem. For instance, Aravind Srinivas co-founded the AI search engine Perplexity, attracting significant investment and attention despite some controversy over its web scraping practices. Moreover, Ilya Sutskever, a co-founder of OpenAI, launched Safe Superintelligence, which has garnered $2 billion in funding. Meanwhile, Mira Murati, the former CTO of OpenAI, established Thinking Machines Lab, which is innovating in customizable AI solutions. This wave of entrepreneurship among OpenAI alumni signals a transformative era in AI and technology, with many of these startups poised to make significant impacts in their respective fields. As more former employees venture into the startup world, the influence of the OpenAI legacy is likely to expand even further.