OpenAI Startup Fund quietly raises $15M

The OpenAI Startup Fund, a enterprise fund associated to — however technically separate from — OpenAI that invests in early-stage, usually AI-related corporations throughout schooling, legislation, and the sciences, has quietly closed a $15 million tranche.

In accordance with a submitting with the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee, two unnamed buyers contributed the $15 million in new money on or round April 19. The paperwork was submitted on April 25, and mentions Ian Hathaway, the OpenAI Startup Fund’s supervisor and sole associate.

The capital was transferred to a authorized entity referred to as a particular function automobile, or SPV, related to the OpenAI Startup Fund: OpenAI Startup Fund SPV II, L.P.

SPVs enable a number of buyers to pool their sources and make an funding in a single firm or fund. Within the VC sector, they’re typically used to put money into startups that don’t match a fund’s technique or that fall outdoors a fund’s phrases. SPVs will also be marketed to a wider vary of non-institutional buyers.

It’s the second such time the OpenAI Startup Fund has raised capital by means of an SPV — the primary time being in February for a $10 million tranche.

The OpenAI Startup Fund, whose portfolio corporations embody authorized tech startup Harvey, Ambiance Healthcare and humanoid robotics agency Determine AI, got here below scrutiny final yr after it was revealed that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had lengthy legally managed the fund. Whereas marketed like a typical company enterprise arm, Altman raised capital for the OpenAI Startup Fund from outdoors restricted companions, together with Microsoft (a detailed OpenAI associate and investor), and had the ultimate say within the fund’s investments.

Neither OpenAI nor Altman had — or have — a monetary curiosity within the OpenAI Startup Fund. However critics nonetheless argued that Altman’s possession amounted to a battle of curiosity; OpenAI claimed that the final associate construction was supposed to be “short-term.”

In April, Altman transferred formal management of the OpenAI Startup Fund to Hathaway, beforehand an investor with the VC agency Haystack, who’d performed a key function in managing the Startup Fund since 2021.

As of final yr, the OpenAI Startup Fund — whose ventures additionally embody an incubator program referred to as Converge — had $175 million in commitments and held $325 million in gross internet asset worth. It’s backed properly over a dozen startups together with Descript, a collaborative multimedia enhancing platform valued at $553 million final yr; language studying app Converse; AI-powered note-taking app Mem; and IDE platform Anysphere.

OpenAI hadn’t responded to TechCrunch’s request for remark as of publication time. We’ll replace this submit if we hear again.