A collective of early OpenAI employees is moving from building the world’s most famous AI models to funding the next generation of them. The new venture capital firm, aptly named Zero Shot, has achieved its first close toward a $100 million target, leveraging deep technical expertise to navigate an increasingly crowded and noisy AI market.
The Team Behind the Thesis
The fund’s founding team reads like a “who’s who” of OpenAI’s formative years. It includes Evan Morikawa, who previously led applied engineering for ChatGPT and DALL·E; Andrew Mayne, the original prompt engineer and host of The OpenAI podcast; and Shawn Jain, a former researcher and engineer who also founded Synthefy.
Rounding out the leadership are Kelly Kovacs, a founding partner at growth firm 01A, and Brett Rounsaville, CEO of the AI consultancy Interdimensional. This group isn’t just looking for buzzwords; they are betting that their “insider” perspective allows them to see where AI models are heading before the rest of the market catches up.
Cutting Through the AI Noise
Zero Shot’s strategy is defined as much by what they avoid as what they fund. The partners are notably skeptical of several current industry trends:
- Vibe Coding: Mayne believes model makers will eventually integrate these capabilities directly, rendering standalone platforms unnecessary.
- Robotics Video Data: Morikawa argues that current attempts to bridge the “embodiment gap” through video data are technically premature.
- Digital Twins: The team suggests that standard LLMs often perform just as well as specialized digital twin startups, making the latter redundant.
Early Bets and Portfolio
With an initial $20 million already secured, Zero Shot has begun deploying capital into startups that solve fundamental enterprise and industrial problems.
Their portfolio includes Worktrace AI, a platform founded by former OpenAI product manager Angela Jiang that helps companies identify and automate manual tasks. They have also backed Foundry Robotics, which focuses on AI-enhanced manufacturing, alongside a third investment currently in stealth.
To bolster their technical vetting, the fund is supported by high-profile advisors including former OpenAI leaders Diane Yoon, Steve Dowling, and Luke Miller. By focusing on non-linear growth and technical reality over hype, Zero Shot aims to find the builders who are truly prepared for the next phase of the AI revolution.
