{"id":712707,"date":"2026-02-20T15:50:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T12:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T15:50:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T12:50:13","slug":"the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni\/","title":{"rendered":"The OpenAI mafia: 18 startups founded by alumni"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a25763a351b0\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a25763a351b0\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni\/#David_Luan_%E2%80%94_Adept_AI_Labs\" >David Luan \u2014 Adept AI Labs\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni\/#Dario_Amodei_Daniela_Amodei_and_John_Schulman_%E2%80%94_Anthropic\" >Dario Amodei, Daniela Amodei, and John Schulman \u2014 Anthropic<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni\/#Rhythm_Garg_Linden_Li_and_Yash_Patil_%E2%80%94_Applied_Compute\" >Rhythm Garg, Linden Li, and Yash Patil \u2014 Applied Compute\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni\/#Pieter_Abbeel_Peter_Chen_and_Rocky_Duan_%E2%80%94_Covariant\" >Pieter Abbeel, Peter Chen, and Rocky Duan \u2014 Covariant<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni\/#Tim_Shi_%E2%80%94_Cresta\" >Tim Shi \u2014 Cresta\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni\/#Jonas_Schneider_%E2%80%94_Daedalus\" >Jonas Schneider \u2014 Daedalus<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni\/#Andrej_Karpathy_%E2%80%94_Eureka_Labs\" >Andrej Karpathy \u2014 Eureka Labs<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni\/#Margaret_Jennings_%E2%80%94_Kindo\" >Margaret Jennings \u2014 Kindo<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni\/#Maddie_Hall_%E2%80%94_Living_Carbon\" >Maddie Hall \u2014 Living Carbon<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni\/#Liam_Fedus_%E2%80%94_Periodic_Labs\" >Liam Fedus \u2014 Periodic Labs\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni\/#Aravind_Srinivas_%E2%80%94_Perplexity\" >Aravind Srinivas \u2014 Perplexity<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni\/#Jeff_Arnold_%E2%80%94_Pilot\" >Jeff Arnold \u2014 Pilot<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni\/#Shariq_Hashme_%E2%80%94_Prosper_Robotics\" >Shariq Hashme \u2014 Prosper Robotics<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-14\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni\/#Ilya_Sutskever_%E2%80%94_Safe_Superintelligence\" >Ilya Sutskever \u2014 Safe Superintelligence\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-15\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni\/#Emmett_Shear_%E2%80%94_Stem_AI\" >Emmett Shear \u2014 Stem AI<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-16\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni\/#Mira_Murati_%E2%80%94_Thinking_Machines_Lab\" >Mira Murati \u2014 Thinking Machines Lab\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-17\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni\/#Kyle_Kosic_%E2%80%94_xAI\" >Kyle Kosic \u2014 xAI<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-18\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni\/#Angela_Jiang_%E2%80%94_Worktrace_AI\" >Angela Jiang \u2014 Worktrace AI<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-19\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-openai-mafia-18-startups-founded-by-alumni\/#Stealth_Startups\" >Stealth Startups<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div>\n<p id=\"speakable-summary\" class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Move over, PayPal mafia:\u00a0There\u2019s\u00a0a new tech mafia in Silicon Valley. As the startup behind ChatGPT, OpenAI is\u00a0arguably the\u00a0biggest AI player in town. The company is\u00a0reportedly now\u00a0in talks to\u00a0finalize\u00a0a\u00a0$100 billion\u00a0deal, valuing the\u00a0company at more than\u00a0$850 billion.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many employees have come and gone since the company first launched a decade\u00a0ago, and\u00a0some\u00a0have launched startups of their own.\u00a0Among these, some\u00a0have become top rivals (like Anthropic), while others, just on investor\u00a0interest\u00a0alone, have managed to raise\u00a0billions without even launching a product (see, Thinking Machine Labs).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In January, Aliisa Rosenthal, OpenAI\u2019s first sales leader,\u00a0spoke a little bit about this growing network. She,\u00a0like the other OpenAI alums\u00a0who did not become founders, decided to become an investor and said she was going to tap into the ex-OpenAI founder network to look for deal flow.\u00a0We know\u00a0Peter Deng, OpenAI\u2019s former head of consumer products (and now <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a> partner at Felicis)\u00a0already has.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Below is a roundup of\u00a0the major\u00a0startups founded by OpenAI alumni,\u00a0in alphabetical order.\u00a0And we are certain this list will grow over time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-david-luan-adept-ai-labs-nbsp\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"David_Luan_%E2%80%94_Adept_AI_Labs\"><\/span>David Luan \u2014 Adept AI Labs\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">David Luan was OpenAI\u2019s engineering VP until he left in 2020. After a stint at Google, in 2021 he co-founded Adept AI Labs, a startup that builds AI tools for employees. The startup last raised $350 million at a valuation north of $1 billion in 2023, but Luan left in late 2024 to oversee Amazon\u2019s AI agents lab after Amazon hired Adept\u2019s founders.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-dario-amodei-daniela-amodei-and-john-schulman-anthropic\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Dario_Amodei_Daniela_Amodei_and_John_Schulman_%E2%80%94_Anthropic\"><\/span>Dario Amodei, Daniela Amodei, and John Schulman \u2014 Anthropic<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei left OpenAI in 2021 to form their own startup, San Francisco-based Anthropic, that has long <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.anthropic.com\/news\/core-views-on-ai-safety\">touted<\/a> a focus on AI safety. OpenAI co-founder John Schulman joined Anthropic in 2024, pledging to build a \u201csafe AGI.\u201d The company has since become OpenAI\u2019s biggest rival and just raised a $30 billion <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Series<\/a> G, nabbing a $380 billion valuation in the process. IPO rumors are also swirling, as the company reportedly prepares for a public listing that could come sometime this year. (OpenAI is also allegedly preparing for an IPO this year and is <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/tech\/ai\/openai-ipo-anthropic-race-69f06a42?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=AWEtsqcK4tjQfJcHT8-jY0F3nGOOVnQsYRVGVQ3r3TaNwsa2_-6J81EL7ORXIELF-AI%3D&amp;gaa_ts=699752c0&amp;gaa_sig=FGzuT_Nrf_HWZFINl4wiT-fLI0s5m0b1kq7yAf0off-lEY40Yk7K8RlG4N9aCteO0bEdLFXxt70KeOBMht0S_A%3D%3D\">maybe even trying to beat Anthropic <\/a>to the public market.)\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-rhythm-garg-linden-li-and-yash-patil-applied-compute\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Rhythm_Garg_Linden_Li_and_Yash_Patil_%E2%80%94_Applied_Compute\"><\/span>Rhythm Garg, Linden Li, and Yash Patil \u2014 <strong>Applied Compute\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three ex-OpenAI staffers (Rhythm Garg, Linden Li, and Yash Patil) have reportedly raised $20 million for a startup called <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">App<\/a>lied Compute, as <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.upstartsmedia.com\/p\/ex-openai-applied-compute-raises-20m\">reported by Upstart Media. <\/a>All three of them worked as technical staff at OpenAI for more than a year before leaving last May to launch the startup, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/rhythm-garg\/\">per their LinkedIns<\/a>. The startup helps enterprises train and deploy custom AI agents. Benchmark led the round, valuing the 10-month-old company at $100 million, Upstart <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Media<\/a> reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-techcrunch-inline-cta\">\n<div class=\"inline-cta__wrapper\">\n<p>Techcrunch event<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-cta__content\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"inline-cta__location\">Boston, MA<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"inline-cta__separator\">|<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"inline-cta__date\">June 9, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-pieter-abbeel-peter-chen-and-rocky-duan-covariant\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Pieter_Abbeel_Peter_Chen_and_Rocky_Duan_%E2%80%94_Covariant\"><\/span>Pieter Abbeel, Peter Chen, and Rocky Duan \u2014 Covariant<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The trio all worked at OpenAI in 2016 and 2017 as research scientists before founding Covariant, a Berkeley, California-based startup that builds foundation AI models for robots. In 2024, Amazon hired all three of the Covariant founders and about a quarter of its staff. The quasi-acquisition was <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/technology\/2025\/01\/18\/amazon-antitrust-ai-whistleblower\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">viewed by some<\/a> as part of a broader trend of Big Tech attempting to avoid antitrust scrutiny.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-tim-shi-cresta-nbsp\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Tim_Shi_%E2%80%94_Cresta\"><\/span>Tim Shi \u2014 Cresta\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tim Shi was an early member of OpenAI\u2019s team, where he focused on building safe artificial general intelligence (AGI), according to his LinkedIn profile. He worked at OpenAI for a year in 2017 but left to found Cresta, a San Francisco-based AI contact center startup that has raised over $270 million from VCs like Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and others, according to a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/cresta-closes-125m-series-d-to-accelerate-adoption-of-human-centric-ai-in-the-contact-center-302309858.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-jonas-schneider-daedalus\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Jonas_Schneider_%E2%80%94_Daedalus\"><\/span>Jonas Schneider \u2014 Daedalus<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jonas Schneider led OpenAI\u2019s software engineering for robotics team but left in 2019 to co-found Daedalus, which builds advanced factories for precision components. The San Francisco-based startup raised a $21 million Series A last year with backing from Khosla Ventures, among others.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-andrej-karpathy-eureka-labs\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Andrej_Karpathy_%E2%80%94_Eureka_Labs\"><\/span>Andrej Karpathy \u2014 Eureka Labs<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Computer vision expert Andrej Karpathy was a founding member and research scientist at OpenAI, leaving the startup to join Tesla in 2017 to lead its autopilot program. Karpathy is also well-known for his YouTube <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/andrejkarpathy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">videos<\/a> explaining core AI concepts. He left Tesla in 2024 to found his own education <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a> startup, Eureka Labs, a San Francisco-based startup that is building AI teaching assistants.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-margaret-jennings-kindo\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Margaret_Jennings_%E2%80%94_Kindo\"><\/span>Margaret Jennings \u2014 Kindo<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Margaret Jennings worked at OpenAI in 2022 and 2023 until she left to co-found Kindo, which markets itself as an AI chatbot for enterprises. Kindo has raised over $27 million in funding, last <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/venturebeat.com\/ai\/kindo-raises-20-6m-to-bring-security-to-enterprise-ai\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">raising<\/a> a $20.6 million Series A in 2024. Jennings left Kindo in 2024 to head product and research at French AI startup Mistral, according to her LinkedIn profile.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-maddie-hall-living-carbon\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Maddie_Hall_%E2%80%94_Living_Carbon\"><\/span>Maddie Hall \u2014 Living Carbon<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maddie Hall worked on \u201cspecial projects\u201d at OpenAI but left in 2019 to co-found Living Carbon, a San Francisco-based startup that aims to create engineered plants that can suck more carbon out of the sky to fight climate change. Living Carbon raised a $21 million Series A round in 2023, bringing its total funding until then to $36 million, according to a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.globenewswire.com\/news-release\/2023\/01\/17\/2590194\/0\/en\/Living-Carbon-raises-new-funding-to-plant-4M-fast-growing-carbon-guzzling-supertrees-in-US.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-liam-fedus-periodic-labs\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Liam_Fedus_%E2%80%94_Periodic_Labs\"><\/span>Liam Fedus \u2014 <strong>Periodic Labs\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Liam Fedus, OpenAI\u2019s VP of post-training research, left the company in March 2025 to team up with his former Google Brain colleague, Ekin Dogus Cubuk, and launch Periodic Labs. The startup seeks to use AI scientists to find new materials, particularly new superconducting materials. It came out of stealth mode in September 2025, armed with a massive $300 million in seed-round funding with backers that included Jezz Bezos, Eric Schmidt, Felicis and Andreessen Horowitz.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-aravind-srinivas-perplexity\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Aravind_Srinivas_%E2%80%94_Perplexity\"><\/span>Aravind Srinivas \u2014 Perplexity<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aravind Srinivas worked as a research scientist at OpenAI for a year until 2022, when he left the company to co-found AI search engine Perplexity. His startup has attracted a string of high-profile investors like Jeff Bezos and Nvidia, although it\u2019s also caused controversy over alleged unethical web scraping. Perplexity, which is based in San Francisco, last reported a raise of $200 million at a $20 billion valuation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-jeff-arnold-pilot\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Jeff_Arnold_%E2%80%94_Pilot\"><\/span>Jeff Arnold \u2014 Pilot<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jeff Arnold worked as OpenAI\u2019s head of operations for five months in 2016 before co-founding San Francisco-based accounting startup Pilot in 2017. Pilot, which focused initially on doing accounting for startups, last raised a $100 million Series C in 2021 at a $1.2 billion valuation and has attracted investors like Jeff Bezos. Arnold worked as Pilot\u2019s COO until <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theinformation.com\/articles\/why-ai-founders-are-starting-their-own-venture-funds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">leaving<\/a> in 2024 to launch a VC fund.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-shariq-hashme-prosper-robotics\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Shariq_Hashme_%E2%80%94_Prosper_Robotics\"><\/span>Shariq Hashme \u2014 Prosper Robotics<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shariq Hashme worked for OpenAI for 9 months in 2017 on a bot that could play the popular video <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a> Dota, per his LinkedIn profile. After a few years at data-labeling startup Scale AI, he co-founded London-based Prosper Robotics in 2021. The startup says it\u2019s working on a robot butler for people\u2019s homes, a hot trend in robotics that other players like Norway\u2019s 1X and Texas-based Apptronik are also working on.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-ilya-sutskever-safe-superintelligence-nbsp\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Ilya_Sutskever_%E2%80%94_Safe_Superintelligence\"><\/span>Ilya Sutskever \u2014 Safe Superintelligence\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever left OpenAI in May 2024 after he was reportedly part of a failed effort to replace CEO Sam Altman. Shortly afterward, he co-founded Safe Superintelligence, or SSI, with \u201cone goal and one product: a safe superintelligence,\u201d he says. Details about what exactly the startup is up to are scant: It has no product and no revenue yet. But investors are clamoring for a piece anyway, and it\u2019s been able to raise $2 billion, with its latest valuation reportedly rising to $32 billion this month. SSI is based in Palo Alto, California, and Tel Aviv, Israel.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-emmett-shear-stem-ai\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Emmett_Shear_%E2%80%94_Stem_AI\"><\/span>Emmett Shear \u2014 Stem AI<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Emmett Shear is the former CEO of Twitch who was OpenAI\u2019s interim CEO in November 2023 for a few days before Sam Altman rejoined the company. Shear launched an AI company, StemAI, in 2024 (though it seems to have since rebranded as <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/softmax.com\/\">Softmax<\/a>). The company, which appears to be a research company, has attracted funding from Andreessen Horowitz.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-mira-murati-thinking-machines-lab-nbsp\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Mira_Murati_%E2%80%94_Thinking_Machines_Lab\"><\/span>Mira Murati \u2014 Thinking Machines Lab\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mira Murati, OpenAI\u2019s CTO, left OpenAI to found her own company, Thinking Machines Lab, which emerged from stealth in February 2025. It said at the time (rather vaguely) that it will build AI that\u2019s more \u201ccustomizable\u201d and \u201ccapable.\u201d The San Francisco AI startup, now valued at $12 billion, announced its first product late last year: an API that fine-tunes language models. It recently made headlines when two of its co-founders announced earlier this year that they would return to OpenAI.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-kyle-kosic-xai\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Kyle_Kosic_%E2%80%94_xAI\"><\/span>Kyle Kosic \u2014 xAI<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kyle Kosic left OpenAI in 2023 to become a co-founder and infrastructure lead of xAI, Elon Musk\u2019s AI startup that offers a rival chatbot, Grok. In 2024, however, he <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2024\/06\/28\/xai-original-employee-departure-kyle-kosic-engineer\/\">hopped back<\/a> to OpenAI, where he remains. Meanwhile, xAI (which acquired Musk\u2019s social media site X) was purchased by Musk\u2019s SpaceX, giving the coalesce company a valuation of $1.25 trillion. It is looking to go public sometime in June for what could be a historic listing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-angela-jiang-worktrace-ai\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Angela_Jiang_%E2%80%94_Worktrace_AI\"><\/span>Angela Jiang \u2014 Worktrace AI <span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Angela Jiang left OpenAI in 2024, after working as a product manager and on the public policy team. In April 2025, she <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/former-openai-product-manager-launches-worktrace-ai-mira-murati-backing-2025-10\">quietly launched Worktrace<\/a>, which uses AI to help enterprises <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/worktrace.ai\/\">make business operations more efficient.<\/a> It observes employee work patterns and automates workflow, according to the company\u2019s website. The business is backed by Mura Murati, OpenAI\u2019s former CTO, who went on to launch Thinking Labs. It is also backed by OpenAI\u2019s startup fund, in addition to a slew of other OpenAI names, like its chief strategy officer, Jason Kwon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-stealth-startups\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Stealth_Startups\"><\/span>Stealth Startups <span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to these startups, a number of other former OpenAI employees have founded startups that are still in stealth mode, according to various updates TechCrunch found on LinkedIn. For instance, it seems that former OpenAI researcher Danilo Hellermark has been working on a generative AI stealth startup for the past few years. He officially left OpenAI at the beginning of 2023. There\u2019s <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/lucas-negritto-b942b8163\/\">also one apparently in the works from Lucas Negritto,<\/a> who worked on OpenAI\u2019s technical team and left the company in 2023 after three years. Since then, he\u2019s founded one startup and has been working on another since August 2025, according to his LinkedIn.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Technology<\/a><\/span> category.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2026\/02\/20\/the-openai-mafia-15-of-the-most-notable-startups-founded-by-alumni\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Move over, PayPal mafia:\u00a0There\u2019s\u00a0a new tech mafia in Silicon Valley. As the startup behind ChatGPT, OpenAI is\u00a0arguably the\u00a0biggest AI player in town. The company is\u00a0reportedly now\u00a0in talks to\u00a0finalize\u00a0a\u00a0$100 billion\u00a0deal, valuing the\u00a0company at more than\u00a0$850 billion.\u00a0\u00a0 Many employees have come and gone since the company first launched a decade\u00a0ago, and\u00a0some\u00a0have launched startups of their own.\u00a0Among these,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":712708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-2197181602.jpg?w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[152300,138467,151410,141199,152732,70917,151707],"class_list":["post-712707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-anthropic","tag-chatgpt","tag-evergreens","tag-openai","tag-perplexity","tag-startups","tag-xai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}