OpenAI Startup Fund, a enterprise capital fund related to but technically separate from OpenAI that invests in early-stage corporations, typically related to artificial intelligence, in the education, law and science sectors, has quietly closed a $15 million tranche.
According to sawing Two anonymous investors transferred $15 million in latest money to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on or around April 19. The documents were filed on April 25 and mention Ian Hathaway, manager and sole shareholder of the OpenAI Startup Fund.
The capital was transferred to a legal entity called a special purpose vehicle (SPV), related to OpenAI Startup Fund: OpenAI Startup Fund SPV II, LP
Special purpose vehicles allow many investors to mix their resources and invest in one company or fund. In the VC sector, they are sometimes used to speculate in start-ups that do not fit the fund’s strategy or do not meet the fund’s conditions. Special purpose vehicles may be offered to a wider group of non-institutional investors.
This is the second time that OpenAI Startup Fund has raised capital through a special purpose vehicle – the first time existence in February for a tranche price USD 10 million.
The OpenAI Startup Fund, whose portfolio corporations include legal tech startup Harvey, Ambiance Healthcare and humanoid robotics company Figura AI, got here under scrutiny last yr after revelations that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had long legally controlled the fund. Although touted as a standard enterprise capital arm, Altman raised capital for the OpenAI Startup Fund from outside limited partners, including Microsoft (a close partner and investor of OpenAI) and had the final say in the fund’s investments.
Neither OpenAI nor Altman had – or have – a financial interest in the OpenAI startup fund. Nevertheless, critics argued that Altman’s ownership constituted a conflict of interest; OpenAI claimed that the general partner structure was intended to be “temporary.”
In April, Altman handed over formal control of the OpenAI Startup Fund to Hathaway, previously an investor in VC firm Haystack, who played a key role in managing the Startup Fund from 2021.
As of last yr, the OpenAI Startup Fund — whose ventures also include an incubator program called Converge — had $175 million in commitments and a gross net asset value of $325 million. It has backed greater than a dozen startups, including Descript, a collaborative multimedia editing platform valued at $553 million last yr; language learning app Speak; AI-powered note-taking app Mem; and the Anysphere IDE platform.
At the time of publication, OpenAI had not responded to TechCrunch’s request for comment. If we receive a response, we’ll update this post.