DeepMind alumni raise US$200mil funding round for Holistic AI
PARIS: Holistic AI, a new startup in Paris working to leapfrog other generative artificial intelligence (AI) models, has closed the first tranche of a US$200mil initial financing round, according to people familiar with the deal.

Investors agreed to put in US$80mil in equity and US$120mil in convertible debt, chiefly for buying computing power, said the people who asked not to be identified because the details aren’t yet public.

They said the founding round valued the company at US$370mil.

The startup, formed by a group of scientists who recently left DeepMind, Google’s artificial intelligence lab, has audacious aims.

It’s working to develop “multi-agent” models, a process where a number of AI systems interact with one another.

The deal for the months-old startup marks continued intense interest in companies pushing forward in AI, with investors willing to take a bet on founding teams based on their employment history as much as their proposed product.

In an investor presentation, the startup described its goal to develop AI with skills like memory, planning, and “tactical decision-making” that AI systems have struggled with.

“We build genuine AGI capabilities,” read the presentation, referencing theoretical AI systems that outperform humans on all tasks.

Holistic’s chief executive officer Charles Kantor did not respond to a request for comment.

Charles Kantor is a former venture resident at Stanford University’s business school. The other four members of the founding team are engineers who spent years at DeepMind working on some of its advanced models.

Venture firm Accel Partners LP is participating in the round, the people said.

Other investors include Wendy and Eric Schmidt, Google’s former chief executive officer.

Business Insider previously reported some of the details of the funding round.

Accel, a fund based in California, was an early backer of Facebook, Dropbox and several other prominent Internet companies.

But the firm has steered clear of startups building foundational AI models, such as OpenAI and Mistral, another Parisian newcomer that raced to a US$2bil-plus valuation in its first year.

In its investor document, Holistic AI pitched a vision of moving “beyond” large language models like OpenAI’s GPT and Google’s Gemini.

The document said the startup was planning to target “multiple verticals” and revenue streams.

“We are raising a large round to train the model and start going after these markets,” the presentation read. — Bloomberg
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Holistic AI, a new startup in Paris working to leapfrog other generative artificial intelligence (AI) models, has closed the first tranche of a US$200mil initial financing round, according to people familiar with the deal.