Who Could Lead OpenAI’s VC Fund?

OpenAI is on the prowl for a seasoned venture capitalist or two to run its startup investment fund.

The San Francisco developer of ChatGPT is gearing up to soon start raising its second fund, which will be far larger than its $175 million debut, representatives of OpenAI have told several venture capital investors. They want an established investor to lead more AI startup deals. 

Poaching a successful venture capitalist from a top-tier multi-stage fund like Sequoia Capital or Andreessen Horowitz won’t be easy, even for a rocket ship like OpenAI, because partners at traditional VC firms typically hesitate to leave until they get paid from returns in their funds—and those profits may be years off. Instead, I suspect Altman will end up recruiting a familiar face from the ranks of solo venture capitalists with whom he’s done startup deals over the years or who hail from his alma mater, Y Combinator.