Startup Factories: DeepMind
Meet the 110+ startups founded by former DeepMind operators who have collectively raised over $23B.
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STARTUP FACTORIES
We recently launched a new series called Startup Factories—when a startup achieves success, it often blossoms with powerful network effects—former employees, or "operators," go on to launch their own ventures, invest in early-stage startups, or even establish their own venture funds.
This edition spotlights former DeepMind operators who have gone on to become founders.
ABOUT DEEPMIND
DeepMind is a cutting-edge artificial intelligence company that’s transforming the way we think about technology and its potential.
Founded in 2010 and now part of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, DeepMind has achieved global recognition for major breakthroughs in AI research. Its most notable accomplishments include AlphaGo, the first AI to defeat a world champion at the complex board game Go, and AlphaFold, a revolutionary system that accurately predicts protein structures—an advancement with huge implications for medicine and biology.
DeepMind’s mission is to solve intelligence and use it to advance science and benefit humanity, making it one of the most influential players in the AI space today.
We take a closer look at their former employees who have gone on to launch and build their own companies.
THE COMPOUNDING EFFECT: BY THE NUMBERS
When founders leave established companies, some go on to raise millions in capital and build teams of hundreds. Looking at the data from DeepMind, the numbers are especially striking. They include:
60+ startups have been founded, raising a minimum of $1M each.
50+ startups have been building in stealth since 2024.
The most common background among founders was that of a Research Scientist.
UC Berkeley, Stanford, and MIT appeared as the most common universities that founders attended.
Founders of Perplexity, Anthropic, Harvey, and Mistral were all former DeepMind employees.
The startups have collectively raised over $23 billion.
Let’s take a closer look at the DeepMind founders building companies.
A big thank you to Harmonic for being our data provider for this edition!
WHEN THE STARTUPS WERE FOUNDED
Former DeepMind operators have been launching startups for some time, but since 2019, the number of founders has grown steadily. The trend peaked in 2023, reflecting a rising wave of operators choosing to build their own ventures.
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WHICH CATEGORIES ARE THE FOUNDERS BUILDING IN?
Given DeepMind's deeply technical focus, it's no surprise that most companies being built by alumni are centered around AI. A notable secondary trend is the emergence of former operators launching ventures in Healthcare, as well as in areas such as Defense, Robotics, and Supply Chains.
PREVIOUS ROLES HELD
Most founders come from deeply technical backgrounds, often having worked as Research Scientists or Research Engineers. Less commonly, they were Software Engineers or held Product Manager roles.
LATEST FUNDING STAGES
Current data shows that most startups are at the Seed stage with a number progressing towards Series A and beyond. The total amount of capital the startups have raised to date is $23 billion.
AVERAGE FUNDING ROUNDS
Startups raised the following amounts on average per round:
Pre-Seed: $2.7M
Seed: $8.9M
Series A: $62M
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WHICH INVESTORS ARE INVESTING
Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator, Lightspeed, Khosla Ventures, Sequoia, Conviction, General Catalyst and M12 all appeared as the most frequent backers of the former operators.
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UNIVERSITIES FOUNDERS ATTENDED
UC Berkeley and MIT are the top universities which the founders attended. Followed by Stanford, Cambridge, Oxford, Columbia and others.
STEALTH STARTUPS: EX DEEPMIND EMPLOYEES
Discover the latest startups in stealth, which the former operators at DeepMind are building.
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