The OpenAI Startup Fund, a venture fund related to but technically separate from OpenAI that invests in early-stage, typically AI-related companies in education, law and science, has quietly raised a $15 million tranche completed.
According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, two unnamed investors contributed $15 million in new cash on or about April 19. The documents were filed on April 25 and mention Ian Hathaway, the manager and sole partner of the OpenAI Startup Fund.
The capital was transferred to a legal entity called Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) associated with the OpenAI Startup Fund: OpenAI Startup Fund SPV II, LP
SPVs allow multiple investors to pool their resources and invest in a single company or fund. In the VC space, they are sometimes used to invest in startups that do not fit a fund’s strategy or violate a fund’s terms and conditions. SPVs can also be marketed to a wider range of non-institutional investors.
It is the second time the OpenAI Startup Fund has raised capital through an SPV – the first in February for a $10 million tranche.
The OpenAI Startup Fund, whose portfolio companies include legal tech startup Harvey, Ambiance Healthcare and humanoid robotics company Figure AI, came under scrutiny last year after it was revealed that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had long-standing legal control of the fund had. While marketed like a normal corporate venture arm, Altman raised capital for the OpenAI Startup Fund from outside limited partners, including Microsoft (a close OpenAI partner and investor), and had final say on the fund’s investments.
Neither OpenAI nor Altman had or has a financial interest in the OpenAI Startup Fund. However, critics still argued that Altman’s ownership represented a conflict of interest; OpenAI claimed that the complementary structure was intended to be “temporary.”
In April, Altman transferred formal control of the OpenAI Startup Fund to Hathaway, previously an investor at VC firm Haystack, who had played a key role in managing the Startup Fund since 2021.
Last year, the OpenAI Startup Fund — whose ventures include an incubator program called Converge — had $175 million in commitments and a gross net asset value of $325 million. It has backed well over a dozen startups, including Descript, a collaborative multimedia editing platform valued at $553 million last year; Language learning app Speak; AI-powered note-taking app Mem; and IDE platform Anysphere.
OpenAI had not responded to TechCrunch’s request for comment at the time of publication. We’ll update this post if we hear anything.