OpenAI Startup Fund launched: Second cohort of Converge startups launched, don't miss this incredible opportunity!

OpenAI Startup Fund launches Converge-2 program for AI startups

Palace intrigue may dominate the news cycle around OpenAI, but the AI startup - and its co-branded acceleration programs - continue to move forward uninterrupted, according to the PR team.

Today, the OpenAI Startup Fund (which, to be clear, doesn't count OpenAI among its investors; that's a separate and very confusing entity) announced the launch of Converge-2, the second cohort of its six-week Converge program for "exceptional engineers, designers, researchers and product creators using AI to reinvent the world", as the company describes it in a blog post published this morning.

Like the members of the first Converge cohort of the OpenAI Startup Fund, the 10-15 startups chosen to participate in Converge-2 will receive a $1 million equity investment from the OpenAI Startup Fund, the $100 million-plus entrepreneurial stretch announced last May and supported by Microsoft and other OpenAI Startup Fund partners. Do the math, and that represents at least a $10 million investment in the Converge-2 program - no small sum.

In addition to capital, Converge-2 participants will have access to technical conferences, office hours, social events and conversations with "leading practitioners" and the OpenAI Startup Fund's "community of creators", according to the blog post. Importantly, they won't be obliged to build on top of OpenAI's APIs; the OpenAI Startup Fund stresses that the program is "for anyone who builds or aspires to build with AI", though presumably network effects will make OpenAI's technologies extremely attractive.

The OpenAI Startup Fund encourages founders from all backgrounds, disciplines and levels of experience to apply, including those based outside the USA. Previous experience working with AI systems is not required. But the OpenAI Startup Fund will require selected startups to devote at least four to six hours a week to the program from March 11 to April 19, with the first and last weeks of the program taking place in San Francisco (the OpenAI Startup Fund will cover travel expenses).

The deadline for applications is January 26.