Venture firms are competing to gain an edge in the suddenly hot artificial intelligence field, and Spark Capital appears to have taken a major step towards that goal by hiring Fraser Kelton, the former head of product at OpenAI. Kelton recently began his position with the firm, leaving OpenAI in January. He will primarily be responsible for investing in early-stage AI startups, in addition to taking advantage of the growing wave of OpenAI alumni that have gone on to start their own projects in the field.
Spark Capital is a Boston-based venture capital firm that was founded in 2005 and is best known for its investments in consumer technology companies such as Postmates and Warby Parker. Last February, Spark Capital had raised a $2.1 billion fund and are now putting its focus on AI, as evidenced by its investments in startups Anthropic and Adept AI Labs, which are both headed by former OpenAI executives.
Fraser Kelton gained much of his experience while serving as Head of Product at OpenAI, a prominent AI research lab founded in 2015. With the help of investors such as Microsoft and Elon Musk, OpenAI achieved quite a bit of success for its research on generative AI, of which Kelton played a significant role in. Now, Kelton will be putting this knowledge to good use in his new role with Spark Capital, where he will help to identify and invest in promising AI projects.
