AI startup Periodic Labs secures $200 million in funding, led by a16z

Periodic Labs, founded by former OpenAI VP of Research Liam Fedus and former DeepMind research scientist Ekin Dogus Cubuk, has secured $200 million in funding, valuing the company at $1 billion.

The company focuses on using artificial intelligence to research and discover new materials. Andreessen Horowitz led the round, with participation expected from OpenAI. Periodic Labs, an AI startup founded by former OpenAI VP Liam Fedus, is attracting significant investment interest.

Fedus previously served as OpenAI VP of Research, specializing in post-training research, and was a key member of the team that developed ChatGPT in 2023. After leaving OpenAI, he co-founded Periodic Labs with Ekin Dogus Cubuk, a former Google DeepMind research scientist. The company focuses on applying artificial intelligence to materials science, a key application of AI models in scientific discovery.

Materials science aims to design and discover novel materials, and is strategically important for fields such as semiconductors, battery technology, new energy, and aerospace. By combining deep learning with physical models, AI has the potential to accelerate the R&D cycle for new materials, significantly reducing it from years or even decades to just months. It's worth noting that Liam Fedus has significant achievements in AI, having been a core member of several key projects, including GPT-3.5 and ChatGPT.

His expertise has generated high market expectations for this startup. Liam Fedus's Periodic Labs is just one example of a wave of startups launched by former OpenAI employees. As a microcosm of this trend, several companies founded by former OpenAI executives and core R&D personnel are rapidly emerging:

1. A new company founded by Rhythm Garg, Linden Li, and Yash Patil focuses on reinforcement learning and has received seed funding led by Benchmark

2. Thinking Machine, founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, has raised $2 billion at a $10 billion valuation

3. Safe Superintelligence, founded by former OpenAI Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever, has raised billions of dollars

It is worth noting that while several former OpenAI executives have chosen different technical paths and application directions, they all share the common characteristic of receiving substantial capital backing, reflecting investors' high recognition of core AI talent and their strategic layout for the next stage of AI development.

Some analysts believe that this "OpenAI alumni startup wave" may reshape the AI industry landscape, shifting from the dominance of single companies to a more decentralized ecosystem focused on niche areas.