A new venture capital fund, named Zero Shot, has successfully reached its initial close on its ambitious goal of raising $100 million, as revealed by its founders. This fund, which derives its name from an AI training term, boasts a founding team with strong connections to OpenAI, reflecting a shift in careers for several of its co-founders who have transitioned into the world of venture capital.
Among the founding partners are three notable alumni from OpenAI. Evan Morikawa, who previously served as the head of applied engineering during the launch of major projects like DALL·E and ChatGPT, has now joined a robotics startup called Generalist. Andrew Mayne, known as OpenAI’s original prompt engineer and the host of The OpenAI podcast, has founded an AI deployment consultancy named Interdimensional. The third OpenAI alum is Shawn Jain, an engineer and former researcher who now leads his own generative AI startup called Synthefy while also working as a VC.
They are joined by Kelly Kovacs, a veteran venture capitalist and former founding partner at the growth-stage firm 01A, and Brett Rounsaville, who previously worked at Twitter and Disney and is currently the CEO of Mayne’s Interdimensional.
The camaraderie among the founders stems from years of friendship and collaboration at OpenAI, particularly during the company’s explosive growth phase. According to Mayne, they frequently received requests for consulting from VCs wanting insights on emerging AI technologies and from acquaintances seeking advice on starting their own companies. This common experience inspired the founding team to create their own fund, believing they possessed a unique understanding of the future of AI and access to exceptional talent.
After engaging with various institutional investors and family offices, the fund secured its first $20 million and is now on track to achieve its $100 million goal. The partners have already made several investments, including backing former OpenAI product manager Angela Jiang’s startup, Worktrace AI, which focuses on automating enterprise tasks through AI-powered management software. Worktrace AI recently completed a successful $10 million seed funding round, attracting attention from renowned figures like Mira Murati and OpenAI’s Fund.
Additionally, Zero Shot has invested in Foundry Robotics, a company specializing in advanced AI-driven factory robotics that recently raised $13.5 million in a seed round led by Khosla Ventures. The fund has also committed to a third startup that remains in stealth mode.
The experienced founders believe they can pinpoint both the promising startups to support and the ventures to avoid, drawing from their extensive backgrounds in AI. For instance, Mayne expresses skepticism toward many “vibe coding” initiatives, predicting that model creators will render subscriptions to such platforms unnecessary due to their expertise. Meanwhile, Morikawa cautions against the viability of companies developing “ergo-centric video data” for robotics, arguing that there is a considerable gap in successfully transferring embodiment knowledge within the research community.
Mayne has similarly critiqued numerous startups focusing on “digital twins,” asserting that standard large language models (LLMs) can often fulfill the same roles effectively. He emphasizes the importance of accurately predicting the trajectory of AI models, as this process is complex and non-linear.
In addition to the founders, Zero Shot has brought on board several well-known advisors, who will partake in the fund’s carried interest. These advisors include Diane Yoon, former head of talent at OpenAI; Steve Dowling, the former head of communications at both OpenAI and Apple; and Luke Miller, a former product leader at OpenAI.
