Former OpenAI executives quietly back startups through new $100M fund

A newly formed venture capital fund with strong connections to OpenAI has completed the first close of its planned $100 million raise, according to its founding partners. The fund, named Zero Shot — inspired by the AI concept of zero-shot learning — has already begun deploying capital and writing its first investment checks.

The founding team behind Zero Shot includes several early figures from OpenAI who have transitioned into venture investing, largely through their growing involvement with startups and emerging AI technologies.

Among the co-founders are Evan Morikawa, previously head of applied engineering at OpenAI during the launches of DALL·E and ChatGPT via Codex, who is now working with robotics startup Generalist. Andrew Mayne, known as OpenAI’s original prompt engineer and host of The OpenAI podcast, also co-founded Interdimensional, an AI deployment consultancy. Shawn Jain, an engineer and former OpenAI researcher, later moved into venture capital and is currently building his own generative AI startup, Synthefy.

They are joined by venture capitalist Kelly Kovacs, who was previously a founding partner at 01A, a growth-stage firm established by Dick Costello and Adam Bain. The fifth co-founder is Brett Rounsaville, who has experience at Twitter and Disney and now serves as CEO of Interdimensional.

Mayne explained that the group’s collaboration grew naturally from years of working together at OpenAI, spanning the period before ChatGPT’s launch through the company’s rapid expansion phase. After leaving, many of them found themselves frequently advising venture capital firms and startup founders on AI-related opportunities and challenges.

That experience ultimately led to the idea of launching their own fund. According to Mayne, they noticed a gap between the types of AI startups receiving funding and what the market genuinely required.

Following discussions with institutional investors and family offices, the team secured an initial $20 million close and is now aiming to scale the fund to $100 million. The group has already made several early-stage investments.

One of those investments is in Worktrace AI, a startup founded by former OpenAI product manager Angela Jiang. The company is developing AI-driven enterprise management software designed to identify and automate tasks within organisations. Worktrace AI recently raised a $10 million seed round, with participation from notable investors including Mira Murati and OpenAI’s own investment fund, according to PitchBook estimates.

Zero Shot has also invested in Foundry Robotics, a company focused on developing next-generation factory automation systems enhanced by artificial intelligence. Foundry Robotics recently secured $13.5 million in seed funding led by Khosla Ventures. In addition, the fund has backed a third startup that remains in stealth mode.

Beyond identifying promising opportunities, the fund’s founders are also vocal about areas of AI they believe are overhyped or unlikely to deliver near-term value. Mayne, for example, expressed scepticism about many “vibe coding” platforms, suggesting that advances from major model developers could quickly render such tools less essential.

Morikawa, drawing on his experience in robotics and AI, noted concerns about the surge of companies focused on embodiment training data through video. He argued that the gap between such data and practical real-world robotics applications remains significant and unresolved.

Similarly, Mayne questioned the value proposition of many startups working on “digital twins,” explaining that his own evaluations — including building reasoning models to test these systems — showed that standard large language models can often achieve comparable results.

According to Morikawa, one of the key advantages the team believes it holds is the ability to anticipate where AI capabilities are heading, rather than simply reacting to current trends. He emphasised that progress in AI is not linear, making forward-looking judgment especially important for investors in the space.

In addition to the core investment team, Zero Shot has assembled a group of advisors who will share in the fund’s carried interest. These advisors include Diane Yoon, former head of people at OpenAI; Steve Dowling, who previously led communications at OpenAI and Apple; and Luke Miller, a former product leader at OpenAI.

With its insider experience, industry connections, and a clear thesis on the future of AI, Zero Shot is positioning itself as a specialised player in the rapidly evolving AI investment landscape.