The Rise of OpenAI Alumni Startups

OpenAI’s meteoric rise to a $300 billion valuation has created unprecedented opportunities for employees who decide to venture out on their own. The hype surrounding these OpenAI alumni startups is so intense that some have raised billions without even launching products. This article explores the 15 most significant companies founded by former OpenAI talent and how they’re transforming the tech ecosystem.

Anthropic: OpenAI’s Biggest Rival

Founded by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei in 2021 after their departure from OpenAI, Anthropic has established itself as perhaps the most significant of all OpenAI alumni startups. The San Francisco-based company has long emphasized AI safety in its development approach. In a major talent acquisition, OpenAI co-founder John Schulman joined Anthropic in 2024, further strengthening its position in the AI safety space.

While OpenAI remains significantly larger by revenue ($3.7 billion compared to Anthropic’s $1 billion in 2024), Anthropic has rapidly grown to become OpenAI’s most formidable competitor. The company reached a valuation of $61.5 billion in March 2025, positioning it as a leading force among OpenAI alumni startups and in the broader AI industry.

Anthropic’s Claude AI assistant has become a major competitor to ChatGPT, demonstrating how OpenAI alumni startups can directly challenge their former employer.

Safe Superintelligence: Ilya Sutskever’s Vision

OpenAI co-founder and former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever left the company in May 2024 following internal conflicts, including his reported involvement in an unsuccessful attempt to replace CEO Sam Altman. Shortly after his departure, Sutskever launched Safe Superintelligence (SSI), one of the most ambitious OpenAI alumni startups.

With “one goal and one product: a safe superintelligence,” SSI has remained secretive about its specific objectives and development roadmap. Despite having no product and no revenue, investor enthusiasm has propelled the company to extraordinary heights. SSI has secured $2 billion in funding and reached a reported valuation of $32 billion in April 2025, making it one of the most valuable OpenAI alumni startups in existence.

Based in both Palo Alto, California, and Tel Aviv, Israel, SSI represents the growing global distribution of advanced AI development beyond traditional Silicon Valley boundaries. Sutskever’s reputation as a leading AI researcher has enabled his startup to attract talent and capital despite its early stage and limited public disclosures.

Thinking Machines Lab: Mira Murati’s New Venture

Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati established Thinking Machines Lab, which emerged from stealth mode in February 2025. The company has announced plans to develop more “customizable” and “capable” AI systems, though specific details remain limited. Like several other high-profile OpenAI alumni startups, Thinking Machines Lab has attracted numerous former top OpenAI researchers.

Despite having no product or revenue yet, the San Francisco AI startup is reportedly raising a massive $2 billion seed round at a minimum valuation of $10 billion. This extraordinary funding trajectory demonstrates how OpenAI alumni startups can leverage their founders’ reputations and networks to secure unprecedented financial backing at the earliest stages.

Murati’s experience overseeing product development at OpenAI gives her unique insights into the challenges and opportunities of bringing advanced AI systems to market. Her focus on customizability suggests Thinking Machines Lab may be targeting enterprise applications where tailored solutions command premium pricing.

AI Platforms and Search Tools from OpenAI Alumni Startups

Perplexity: Revolutionizing Search with AI

Aravind Srinivas, who worked as a research scientist at OpenAI until 2022, co-founded Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine that has quickly established itself among the most promising OpenAI alumni startups. Perplexity has attracted high-profile investors like Jeff Bezos and Nvidia, though it has also faced controversy over alleged unethical web scraping practices.

The San Francisco-based company was reportedly raising approximately $1 billion at an $18 billion valuation as of March 2025, highlighting the massive market opportunity for AI-enhanced search capabilities. Perplexity’s approach combines traditional search functionality with conversational AI to deliver more nuanced and comprehensive results than conventional search engines.

xAI: Elon Musk’s AI Venture

Kyle Kosic left OpenAI in 2023 to become a co-founder and infrastructure lead at xAI, Elon Musk’s AI startup that created the Grok chatbot. In an interesting career trajectory, Kosic later returned to OpenAI in 2024. Meanwhile, Palo Alto-based xAI made headlines when it acquired X (formerly Twitter), establishing a combined valuation of $113 billion—making it one of the highest-valued entities connected to the OpenAI alumni startups ecosystem.

Stem AI: Emmett Shear’s Stealth Project

Emmett Shear, the former Twitch CEO who briefly served as OpenAI’s interim CEO during the November 2023 leadership crisis, is working on his own stealth AI startup called Stem AI. While details about its activities and fundraising remain limited, the venture has already secured backing from Andreessen Horowitz, demonstrating continued investor confidence in OpenAI alumni startups.

Specialized AI Applications from OpenAI Alumni

Eureka Labs: AI for Education

Computer vision expert Andrej Karpathy, a founding member and research scientist at OpenAI who later led Tesla’s autopilot program, founded Eureka Labs in 2024. This San Francisco-based OpenAI alumni startup is developing AI teaching assistants, bringing specialized AI capabilities to the education sector.

Karpathy’s expertise in deep learning and neural networks positions Eureka Labs to potentially transform how educational content is personalized and delivered. The startup represents how OpenAI alumni startups are increasingly focusing on vertical-specific applications rather than competing directly in the foundational model space.

Pilot: AI-Powered Accounting

Jeff Arnold worked as OpenAI’s head of operations for five months in 2016 before co-founding Pilot, an accounting startup focused initially on providing services for other startups. The San Francisco-based company raised a $100 million Series C in 2021 at a $1.2 billion valuation, with investors including Jeff Bezos. Arnold served as Pilot’s COO until 2024, when he left to launch a venture capital fund, continuing the entrepreneurial trend common among OpenAI alumni startups founders.

Adept AI Labs: Tools for Enterprise

David Luan, who served as OpenAI’s engineering VP until 2020, co-founded Adept AI Labs in 2021 after a stint at Google. The company develops AI tools designed for employee productivity and raised $350 million at a valuation exceeding $1 billion in 2023. Luan later departed in late 2024 to lead Amazon’s AI agents lab, demonstrating the fluid talent movement between OpenAI alumni startups and larger tech companies.

Cresta: AI for Contact Centers

Tim Shi, an early OpenAI team member who focused on building safe artificial general intelligence (AGI), left in 2017 to found Cresta. This San Francisco-based AI contact center startup has raised over $270 million from top venture capital firms including Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, establishing its presence as a specialized solution provider among OpenAI alumni startups.

Robotics and Manufacturing Innovations

Covariant: AI for Robotics

Pieter Abbeel, Peter Chen, and Rocky Duan worked at OpenAI as research scientists before founding Covariant, a Berkeley-based startup developing foundation AI models for robots. In a significant industry move, Amazon hired all three founders and approximately a quarter of Covariant’s staff in 2024, in what some viewed as part of a broader trend of Big Tech companies avoiding antitrust scrutiny through talent acquisition rather than company purchases. This partnership approach represents an alternative growth path for OpenAI alumni startups.

Living Carbon: AI for Climate Solutions

Maddie Hall, who worked on “special projects” at OpenAI, left in 2019 to co-found Living Carbon. This San Francisco-based OpenAI alumni startup applies advanced technology to create engineered plants capable of absorbing more carbon from the atmosphere to combat climate change. Living Carbon raised a $21 million Series A round in 2023, bringing its total funding to $36 million and demonstrating how AI expertise can be applied to environmental challenges.

Prosper Robotics: Home Assistance

Shariq Hashme, who worked at OpenAI in 2017 on a bot for the video game Dota, co-founded London-based Prosper Robotics in 2021 after spending time at data-labeling startup Scale AI. The company is developing a robot butler for homes, joining other players like Norway’s 1X and Texas-based Apptronik in the growing humanoid robotics market. This represents one of the international OpenAI alumni startups expanding beyond the U.S. market.

Daedalus: Advanced Manufacturing

Jonas Schneider, who led OpenAI’s software engineering for robotics team until 2019, co-founded Daedalus, which builds advanced factories for precision components. The San Francisco-based OpenAI alumni startup secured a $21 million Series A in 2024 with backing from Khosla Ventures and other investors, applying AI expertise to manufacturing challenges.

Kindo: Enterprise AI Security

Margaret Jennings worked at OpenAI until 2023 when she left to co-found Kindo, which markets itself as a secure AI chatbot for enterprises. This OpenAI alumni startup has raised over $27 million in funding, including a $20.6 million Series A in 2024. Jennings has since moved on to head product and research at French AI startup Mistral, illustrating the dynamic career paths of OpenAI alumni across the global AI ecosystem.

Future Implications of OpenAI Alumni Startups

The proliferation of OpenAI alumni startups represents a significant redistribution of AI talent and intellectual capital. With total valuations exceeding hundreds of billions of dollars across these ventures, former OpenAI employees are creating an innovation ecosystem that rivals—and in some ways complements—their former employer.

Several trends are emerging from this explosion of OpenAI alumni startups:

• Specialization: While OpenAI pursues general-purpose AI, many alumni startups are focusing on specific applications or industries.
• Safety emphasis: A significant number of these ventures explicitly prioritize AI safety, perhaps reflecting concerns that originated during their time at OpenAI.
• Unprecedented funding: The ability of these startups to raise billions without launched products indicates a fundamental shift in how investors value AI expertise and vision.
• Talent circulation: The movement of personnel between OpenAI, these startups, and larger tech companies creates a fluid ecosystem where ideas and approaches cross-pollinate.

Conclusion

The emergence of OpenAI alumni startups represents one of the most significant talent dispersals in tech history. With billions in funding and ambitious goals spanning multiple industries, these companies are collectively reshaping the AI landscape in ways that may prove as transformative as the original innovations from OpenAI itself.

From Anthropic’s direct competition with OpenAI to specialized applications in robotics, education, and climate technology, the OpenAI alumni startups ecosystem demonstrates how a single influential organization can spawn an entire generation of innovative companies. The future of AI will be significantly influenced by these ventures, making them essential to watch for anyone interested in the evolution of artificial intelligence and its applications across society.