NeoLabsAn index of research-first AI labs
Add a lab
Home / Labs / Applied Compute
Open frontier models · San Francisco, US · founded 2025

Applied Compute: who founded it, who funds it

Applied Compute is a San Francisco open-weight AI lab founded in 2025 by Yash Patil, Rhythm Garg and Linden Li, who came from OpenAI. What it is building: reinforcement learning as a service: a cheaper, more open alternative for enterprises; ~$50M ARR. It has raised $450M in disclosed rounds, most recently a Series C of $350M at a $3.25B valuation in September 2026. It has a product on the market.

ProductOpen frontier models
Website
Founders
Yash Patil (ex-OpenAI), Rhythm Garg (ex-OpenAI), Linden Li (ex-OpenAI)
Founders from
ex-OpenAI
Location
San Francisco, US (North America)
Valuation
$3.25B set by the last priced round
Raised
$450M disclosed
Investors
Benchmark lead, Sequoia, Lux Capital
What ships
Product

Rounds

DateRoundAmountValuationLeadSource
Sep 1, 2026Series CRaising, per Forbes; nearly double the $1.3B mark of four months earlier$350M$3.25B·forbes.com
Sep 30, 2025Series B$80M$500M·techstartups.com
Jun 25, 2025Series A$20M·Benchmarktechstartups.com

Sources

News

Investors who back other labs here

  • Sequoia also: Safe Superintelligence, Reflection AI, Skild AI, Physical Intelligence
  • Lux Capital also: Cognition, Physical Intelligence, Sakana AI, EvolutionaryScale
  • Benchmark also: Decart

Same research area