内容来源：https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/06/openai-alums-have-been-quietly-investing-from-a-new-potentially-100m-fund/

内容总结：

OpenAI系风投基金Zero Shot完成首轮募资，瞄准AI前沿精准投资

由多位OpenAI前核心成员联合创立的风险投资基金Zero Shot，近日宣布已成功完成其1亿美元募资目标的首轮关账。该基金目前已开始运作，并完成了数笔早期投资。

Zero Shot的名称源自人工智能训练术语“零样本学习”，其创始团队背景引人注目。三位联合创始人均出自OpenAI：埃文·森川，曾领导DALL·E、ChatGPT至Codex发布期间的应用工程团队；安德鲁·梅恩，OpenAI首位提示工程师及知名播客主持人；肖恩·贾恩，前OpenAI工程师与研究员。此外，基金联合创始人还包括来自风投机构01A的凯莉·科瓦奇，以及前Twitter和迪士尼高管布雷特·朗萨维尔。

据梅恩向TechCrunch透露，团队成员在OpenAI共事多年，离职后频繁收到来自风投机构关于新兴AI技术的咨询以及创业者的求助，这直接促使梅恩创立了AI咨询公司Interdimensional，并最终催生了共同创立基金的想法。他们发现，大量获得融资的AI初创公司与市场的真实需求之间存在巨大鸿沟，而自身对技术走向的判断以及与顶尖构建者的紧密联系，构成了创立基金的独特优势。

目前，Zero Shot已将其首批资金投向三家初创企业：由前OpenAI产品经理Angela Jiang创立的Worktrace AI，致力于开发帮助企业自动发现并实现任务自动化的AI管理平台；专注于下一代AI增强工厂机器人的Foundry Robotics；以及一家仍处于隐秘模式的第三家公司。

与多数风投不同，Zero Shot团队凭借其深厚的技术背景，对当前AI创业热潮中的某些方向持谨慎态度。梅恩对大多数“氛围编码”和“数字孪生”初创公司表示怀疑，认为前者可能很快被模型开发商内置的功能所取代，而后者在许多场景下并未展现出比大型语言模型更明显的优势。森川则对当前机器人领域众多专注于“本体训练视频数据”的公司持保留意见，认为其技术路径尚不成熟。

除了投资团队，Zero Shot还聘请了多位OpenAI前高管担任顾问，包括前人力资源主管、前传播主管以及前产品负责人，他们将分享基金的部分收益。

该基金的首期目标规模为1亿美元，目前已成功募集2000万美元，并计划继续向目标迈进。

中文翻译：

一家与OpenAI渊源深厚的新风险投资基金已初步完成其1亿美元募资目标的首轮交割，创始人团队向TechCrunch透露。该基金合伙人已开始进行首批投资。

这只名为"零样本"（源自人工智能训练术语的创意变体）的基金，其联合创始团队包含数位OpenAI元老级成员——他们几乎是在机缘巧合下转型成为风险投资人。三位创始合伙人出身于OpenAI：埃文·森川曾在DALL·E、ChatGPT至Codex系列产品发布期间担任应用工程主管，现就职于机器人初创公司Generalist；安德鲁·梅恩作为OpenAI首位提示工程师，更以主持OpenAI官方播客闻名，他还创立了人工智能部署咨询公司Interdimensional；肖恩·贾恩则是OpenAI前工程师兼研究员，后转型为风险投资人并创立生成式AI初创企业Synthefy。

该团队还吸引了风险投资人凯莉·科瓦奇加入，她曾是迪克·科斯特洛与亚当·贝恩创立的成长期风投机构01A的创始合伙人。基金第五位创始成员布雷特·朗萨维尔来自推特和迪士尼，同时兼任梅恩旗下Interdimensional公司的首席执行官。

梅恩向TechCrunch透露，这些OpenAI前成员"相识多年"，从ChatGPT发布前到公司经历爆发式增长阶段，他们始终在这家模型制造商共事。离职后，他们发现风险投资人不断邀约咨询新兴AI技术，创始人们也频繁寻求建议，这促使梅恩创立了自己的咨询公司。"我们有些朋友离开OpenAI后有意创业。"梅恩表示。

这些资深从业者观察到，众多获得融资的AI初创企业与市场真实需求之间存在巨大鸿沟。"或许我们应该创立自己的基金，因为我们对行业发展趋势有较准确的判断，并且能接触到那些卓越的创造者。"梅恩在回忆决策过程时说道。经过与机构及家族办公室的接洽并完成首轮2000万美元募资后，合伙人将初期基金目标设定为1亿美元，目前已开始进行数笔投资。

零样本基金投资了OpenAI早期产品经理安吉拉·江及其创立的Worktrace AI。这家初创公司正在开发基于AI的管理软件平台，通过优先识别可自动化环节帮助企业实现任务自动化。据PitchBook估计，Worktrace AI已从米拉·穆拉蒂及OpenAI基金等知名投资者处获得1000万美元种子轮融资。

该团队还投资了专注于新一代AI增强型工业机器人的Foundry Robotics，这家初创公司近期刚获得由科斯拉领投的1350万美元种子轮融资。零样本基金还投资了第三家仍处于隐秘模式的初创企业。

规避的AI投资领域

零样本基金的创始人表示，他们比许多风险投资人更清晰把握AI发展方向。这既有助于筛选优质初创企业，也能识别需要规避的领域。例如梅恩对多数情绪感知编程迭代持悲观态度，他预见到拥有编码专业能力的模型制造商将迅速使此类平台的订阅服务失去必要性。

森川则向TechCrunch表示，凭借对AI与机器人技术的深刻理解，他并不看好当前机器人领域众多"以人体工学为中心的视频数据公司"——这些专注于机器人实体训练数据的初创企业。"目前业界对学术界能否解决实体化迁移难题抱有过高期待，"森川评论此类视频数据公司时指出，"但这在短期内根本不可能实现。"

梅恩对多数从事"数字孪生"的初创企业同样持怀疑态度。他表示已对多家相关企业进行尽职调查，甚至构建推理模型进行测试，结论是普通大语言模型能达到同等效果。"预判这些模型的演进方向需要真正的专业能力，因为发展轨迹极不明确且非线性。"森川强调。

除创始投资人外，零样本基金还聘请了多位知名顾问，他们将获得基金收益的部分超额回报分成。顾问团队包括：OpenAI前人力资源总监戴安·尹、OpenAI与苹果前传播主管史蒂夫·道林，以及OpenAI前产品负责人卢克·米勒。

英文来源：

A new venture capital fund with deep ties to OpenAI has made its first close on its $100 million goal, the founders tell TechCrunch. The partners have already written a couple of checks.
The fund is called Zero Shot (a play on the AI training term) and its co-founding team includes several OpenAI OGs who found themselves becoming VCs almost by serendipity.
Three of the founding partners hail from OpenAI. Evan Morikawa, the former head of applied engineering during the launch of DALL·E and ChatGPT through Codex, is now at robotics startup Generalist. Andrew Mayne, OpenAI’s original prompt engineer, is well-known as the host of The OpenAI podcast. Mayne also founded Interdimensional, an AI deployment consultancy. And Shawn Jain is an engineer and former researcher at OpenAI, who then became a VC and is a founder of his own GenAI startup, Synthefy.
The alums are joined by VC Kelly Kovacs, previously a founding partner at 01A, the growth-stage venture firm founded by Dick Costello and Adam Bain. The fifth founding member of the fund is Brett Rounsaville, formerly of Twitter and Disney, who is also CEO at Mayne’s Interdimensional.
The OpenAI alums have “been friends for years,” Mayne told TechCrunch, having worked together at the model maker from before it released ChatGPT through its wildest growth years.
After leaving, they all found themselves constantly being hit up to consult for VCs about emerging AI tech, and by founder friends wanting advice. That’s what propelled Mayne to start his consulting company.
“Some of our friends were coming out of OpenAI and interested in doing companies,” Mayne said.
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The alums saw gaping holes between the many AI startups being funded and what the market really needed.
“Maybe we should do our own fund, because we think we have a pretty good sense of where things are headed, and we have this great access to people who we think are incredible builders,” Mayne said, recalling the decision.
After conversations with institutions and family offices and closing the first $20 million, the partners set their sights on a $100 million initial fund. They’ve already written a few checks.
Zero Shot backed early OpenAI product manager Angela Jiang and her startup Worktrace AI. The startup is developing an AI-based management software platform to help enterprises automate tasks by first discovering what should be automated. Worktrace AI raised a $10 million seed round from notables like Mira Murati and OpenAI’s Fund, PitchBook estimates.
The team also invested in Foundry Robotics, a startup working on next-gen, AI-enhanced factory robotics. It recently raised a $13.5 million seed, led by Khosla Ventures. Zero Shot has already invested in a third startup, too, which is still in stealth.
The AI bets they’re skipping
Zero Shot’s founders say they understand the direction of AI better than many a VC. That helps them pick startups to back, but also identify which ideas to avoid.
Mayne, for instance, is bearish on most iterations of vibe coding because he foresees that the model makers, with their coding expertise, are going to quickly make subscriptions to such platforms feel unnecessary.
Morikawa tells TechCrunch that, with his deep knowledge of AI and robotics, he’s not a fan of the many “ergo-centric video data companies right now in robotics.” Those are startups working on embodiment training data for robotics.
“There’s a lot of hoping and praying going on right now that someone in the research world will figure out how to transfer the embodiment gap,” Morikawa said of such video data, but “that’s nowhere near possible.”
Mayne is equally skeptical of most startups doing “digital twins.” He’s done due diligence on a few, including building a reasoning model to test them, and has concluded that a regular LLM model works just as well, he said.
“There is a real skill in knowing how to predict where these models will be going next, because it’s extremely not obvious. It’s not linear,” Morikawa said.
In addition to the investing founders, Zero Shot has some recognizable names who have agreed to be advisors, and will get a share of the “carried interest” that the fund returns. The advisors include Diane Yoon, OpenAI’s former head of people; Steve Dowling, the former head of communications at OpenAI and Apple; and Luke Miller, former product leader at OpenAI.