Zero Shot, a new venture fund built around former OpenAI employees and veteran operators, has closed an initial $20 million toward a $100 million first fund target, according to TechCrunch. The fund has already started writing checks, which makes the story more concrete than a simple fundraising rumor. It also shows how OpenAI’s alumni network is moving from building frontier AI products into financing the next wave of AI companies.
Who is behind Zero Shot?
TechCrunch identifies three OpenAI alumni in the founding group: Evan Morikawa, former head of applied engineering during the DALL·E, ChatGPT and Codex period; Andrew Mayne, described as OpenAI’s original prompt engineer and host of The OpenAI podcast; and Shawn Jain, a former OpenAI engineer and researcher. They are joined by Kelly Kovacs, previously a founding partner at 01A, and Brett Rounsaville, formerly of Twitter and Disney and now CEO at Interdimensional.
The fund’s name refers to “zero-shot” learning, a term from machine learning for handling tasks without specific examples. That branding fits the fund’s pitch: the partners are positioning themselves as investors who understand where AI capability is going before the market fully prices it in.
What has the fund backed?
The first reported investments include Worktrace AI, founded by early OpenAI product manager Angela Jiang, and Foundry Robotics, a company working on AI-enhanced factory robotics. TechCrunch also reports that Zero Shot has invested in a third startup that remains in stealth. Those early deals suggest a focus on applied AI, automation and robotics rather than generic AI wrappers.
The $100 million number should still be read carefully. It is a target for the first fund, while the reported first close is $20 million. In venture capital, that distinction matters. A first close means the fund can begin investing, but it does not mean the full target has been raised. The final size can change depending on limited partner commitments and fundraising conditions.
Why it matters
AI investing is crowded, but operator-led funds with deep technical networks can have an advantage at the seed stage. Founders often want investors who can evaluate whether a technical idea is likely to survive model progress, infrastructure cost changes and platform competition. OpenAI alumni are well positioned to offer that perspective, especially in areas where hype runs ahead of capability.
The partners are also publicly skeptical of some fashionable categories. According to TechCrunch, Mayne is cautious about many “vibe coding” startups, while Morikawa is skeptical of certain robotics video-data companies. That contrarian filter may become part of the fund’s identity: not simply backing anything labeled AI, but trying to separate durable technical opportunities from ideas that model providers may absorb quickly.
Zero Shot is still early. There is no long track record, and the fund’s eventual performance will depend on portfolio quality, follow-on access and whether its technical instincts translate into venture returns. But the launch is another signal that the AI labor market and the AI capital market are converging. The people who helped create the tools are increasingly deciding which companies get funded to build on top of them.
