OpenAI Startup Fund’s Investments Reveal the Future of Key Industries

If you want to know what industries AI is going to shake up, funding is a good place to start. Seeing what industries and startups leading tech vendors are investing in gives an idea of the next frontier of artificial intelligence (AI).

As the world’s largest AI startup, OpenAI is at the center of the AI arms race. Its “at arm’s length” investment arm, the OpenAI Startup Fund, reveals plenty about the top industries and use cases where AI and machine learning (ML) have the potential to make the biggest impact.

These investments provide valuable insights into how the organization expects AI to impact key industries like healthcare and robotics in the future.

Below, Techopedia examines the OpenAI Startup Fund, its notable investments, and what they tell us about the future of AI.

Key Takeaways
Venture capital investments have a lot to reveal about the future of AI development. The OpenAI Startup Fund is OpenAI’s attempt to invest in the future of AI. OpenAI’s fund has invested significantly in healthcare, robotics, and education startups. The OpenAI Startup Fund is regarded as a separate entity from OpenAI.

What is the OpenAI Startup Fund?
The OpenAI Startup Fund is a financial fund founded back in 2021 by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Earlier this year, Altman relinquished control of the fund to Ian Hathaway, a partner at OpenAI.

At the time of writing, the fund has committed to investing $175 million into “early-stage startups in fields where artificial intelligence can have a transformative effect — like healthcare, law education, energy & infrastructure, the sciences, and more.”

Alon Yamin, co-founder and CEO of Copyleaks, told Techopedia:

“The OpenAI startup fund is a critical initiative in fostering innovation and accelerating the development of cutting-edge AI technologies.

“By providing financial support and resources to early-stage companies, OpenAI not only catalyzes technological advancements but also democratizes access to AI capabilities.”

He added: “This investment strategy helps bridge the gap between groundbreaking research and practical, scalable applications, ensuring that pioneering ideas have the opportunity to thrive and make a tangible impact.”

So far, the fund has invested in a range of startups, including Descript, Harvey, Mem, Speak, Ambience Healthcare, and Figure AI, spanning key industries such as healthcare, wearables, and robotics.

OpenAI’s Most Notable Investments: A Breakdown
As of today, OpenAI’s most notable startup investments include:

Descript
Mem
Speak
Harvey
Ambience Healthcare
Figure
Kudo AI
Anysphere
Class Companion
Ghost Autonomy
1X
Thrive AI Health

In November 2022, OpenAI led a $50 million series C funding round for Descript, an audio-video editor that uses AI to help transcribe and edit videos.

In November 2022 OpenAI led a $23.5 million funding round into Mem, an AI-powered note-taking app designed to help knowledge workers be more productive.

Also in November 2022, OpenAI led a $27 million series B funding round into Speak, a language learning platform and AI tutor that uses AI to help people learn English, providing them with feedback on pronunciation and grammar.

In December 2023 OpenAI contributed to a $80 million Series B funding round for Harvey, a generative AI platform for managing legal workflows, which automates tasks such as research, drafting, and analysis to save lawyers time.

In February 2024, Kleiner Perkins and the OpenAI Startup Fund led a $70 million funding round into Ambience Healthcare, which offers a platform for generating clinical documentation in real-time.

Also in February 2024, OpenAI participated in a $675 million funding round for Figure, a startup developing a humanoid robot.

In September 2023 OpenAI contributed to $98,000 in grant funding in partnership with vendors like Microsoft, for Kudo AI, a startup which offers a JavaScript library designed to help developers build AI-driven applications.

In October 2023, OpenAI invested $8 million in Anysphere, to help develop an AI-native software development environment and a human-AI programmer (or “hybrid engineer”).

Also in October 2023, OpenAI Startup Fund participated in a $4 million seed funding round for Class Companion, an AI-driven teaching assistant that offers students instant feedback on their assignments.

In November 2023, OpenAI invested $5 million into Ghost Autonomy, a now defunct autonomous driving software provider.

In March 2023, OpenAI led a Series A2 funding round worth $23.5 million into 1X, a robotics startup based in Norway that’s been developing a bipedal humanoid robot known as NEO and a robot on wheels known as EVE.

In July 2024 OpenAI venture fund and Thrive Global invested in Thrive AI Health, a company that looks to use AI to support health coaching to help manage chronic diseases.

Startup Fund’s Key Investments in Healthcare
Arguably the OpenAI Startup Fund’s most significant investment area has been in healthcare. The fund has notably invested in Thrive AI Health and Ambience Healthcare, while OpenAI itself has established partnerships independently with Oscar Health, Moderna, and other entities who’ve integrated its models via application programming interfaces (APIs).

These investments make sense when we consider the amount of money at stake in the healthcare market. According to Fortune Business Insights the AI in healthcare market will grow from $27.69 billion in 2024 to $490.96 billion by 2032, growing at a massive compound annual growth rate of 43.2%.

Thomas Randall, director of AI market research at Info-Tech Research Group, told Techopedia:

“From what we’ve seen so far, OpenAI has invested in specific industries for healthcare and legal technologies. Healthcare is an interesting area for investment, given the sheer amount of data available to leverage for potential monetisation.

“When anonymised and aggregated, this data might be used to provide insights that can be shared with pharmaceutical companies, insurance providers, or other stakeholders in the healthcare industry.

“Moreover, accumulating vast amounts of healthcare data assists in creating more powerful AI models, which can be extended beyond healthcare (e.g., food and beverage, sports and entertainment, and so on).”

OpenAI’s investment in Ambience Healthcare suggests that healthcare assistants are going to be an important solution category going forward both for patients and doctors.

Patients will be able to check symptoms and receive guidance on treatment while doctors will be able to automate the creation of documentation and medical notes.

More broadly, AI also offers the potential to help discover new drugs and discover treatments to save lives. For instance, Moderna is experimenting with ChatGPT to process clinical data to identify the optimal vaccine dosage for patients.

Key Investments in Robotics
Another industry that OpenAI has been investing heavily in is robotics, backing humanoid robotics providers including 1X and Figure. Like healthcare, the robotics industry has the potential to experience monumental growth.

For example, Precedence Research estimates that the global AI robots market will grow from $14.30 billion in 2023 to $82.47 billion by 2032, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 21.50%.

AI has the potential to enable the development of robotics, contributing to areas like computer vision, which helps robots to perceive their environment. It is also a fundamental technology in replicating movement and autonomous thinking.

It is worth noting that both 1X and Figure are competing against several robotics providers, including Tesla, which has drawn considerable attention with its early prototypes of the Optimus.

Key Investments in Education
Finally, education has been another core focus area for OpenAI’s investments. We have Class Companion, an AI teaching assistant with real-time feedback, and Speak, an AI tutor that helps user’s learn English.

Once again, this market is expected to experience serious growth. Allied Market Research values the global AI in education market at $2.5 billion in 2022 and anticipates it will reach $88.2 billion by 2032. The industry has a compound annual growth rate of 43.3%.

AI is a real force multiplier for the education industry because it provides learners and students with a virtual resource that they can call on 24/7 to learn new skills and concepts.

As Yamin said “In education, AI-driven tools can enhance learning experiences and accessibility.”

The Bottom Line
AI development is moving fast, and investing in the right industry provides a pathway to significant growth. OpenAI’s strategic investments in healthcare, robotics, and education show that these are going to be key development areas in the future.

References
Sam Altman removed as owner of OpenAI Startup Fund (Qz)
About · OpenAI Startup Fund (Openai)
It’s here: the all-new Descript, backed by OpenAI Startup Fund (Techcrunch)
OpenAI leads $23.5M round in Mem, an AI-powered note-taking app (Techcrunch)
Speak Announces $27M Series B Led by OpenAI Startup Fund (Speak)
Harvey raises $80M Series B from Elad Gil, Kleiner Perkins, OpenAI and Sequoia (Harvey)
Ambience Healthcare raises $70M for its AI assistant led by OpenAI and Kleiner Perkins (Techcrunch)
Robot startup Figure valued at $2.6 billion by Bezos, OpenAI, Nvidia (Cnbc)
KudoAI Receives Grant Funding worth $98,000 from partners including Microsoft, OpenAI | by Adam Lui | KudoAI (Blog.kudoai)
Anysphere raises $8M from OpenAI to build an AI-powered IDE (Techcrunch)
Class Companion Secures $4M to Put AI to Work for Teachers and Students (Maginative)
Ghost, now OpenAI-backed, claims LLMs will overcome self-driving setbacks — but experts are skeptical (Techcrunch)
1X Raises $23.5M in Series A2 Funding led by OpenAI | by 1X | Medium (1xtech.medium)
Anysphere raises $8M from OpenAI to build an AI-powered IDE (Techcrunch)
Class Companion Secures $4M to Put AI to Work for Teachers and Students (Maginative)
Ghost, now OpenAI-backed, claims LLMs will overcome self-driving setbacks — but experts are skeptical (Techcrunch)
1X Raises $23.5M in Series A2 Funding led by OpenAI | by 1X | Medium (1xtech.medium)
Anysphere raises $8M from OpenAI to build an AI-powered IDE (Techcrunch)
Class Companion Secures $4M to Put AI to Work for Teachers and Students (Maginative)
Ghost, now OpenAI-backed, claims LLMs will overcome self-driving setbacks — but experts are skeptical (Techcrunch)
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OpenAI Startup Fund’s Investments Reveal the Future of Key Industries

The OpenAI Startup Fund, founded in 2021, has committed $175 million to invest in early-stage AI startups across various industries. The fund's investments, particularly in healthcare, robotics, and education, provide insights into the future impact of AI in these sectors. Notable investments include Descript, Harvey, Mem, Speak, Ambience Healthcare, and Figure AI, among others.