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Over the past few years, DeepMind, Google's AI research lab, has become a treasure trove of top AI talent.
Since Google bought the London-based startup for about $500 million in 2014, DeepMind has made several epoch-making breakthroughs in the AI world:
Created AI AlphaGo that can beat human champions at board games;
Created the AI AlphaFold that helps solve fundamental problems in structural biology;
Successfully used AI to control controllable nuclear fusion experiments.
The "Huangpu" of the AI industry
Founded in 2010 by Demis Hassabis, Mustafa Suleyman and Shane Legg, the company has about 1,200 employees on both sides of the Atlantic, according to Linkedin.
More and more of these veterans are quitting their jobs to start their own nonprofits and startups. Of the 14 businesses founded by former DeepMind employees combed by Insider, 11 were founded in 2020 or later.
These include Inflection, a new AI startup co-founded by original co-founder Suleyman with Linkedin billionaire Reid Hoffman, and Diagonal, the urban planning consultancy of Google veteran Andrew Eland.
Former DeepMind employee Jack Kelly's nonprofit Open Climate Fix is backed by Google, while former engineers Miljan Martic and Peter Toth's Web3 venture Kosen Labs is backed by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
1. Karl Moritz Hermann
Karl Moritz Hermann worked at DeepMind for 5 years before quitting to launch Saiga, an AI-powered personal assistant.
Start-up time: 2020
Backers: Venture capital firms Seedcamp and Mosaic Ventures.
What he does: Karl Moritz Hermann joined DeepMind when it acquired his last startup, Dark Blue Labs, in 2014.
He then worked at the company for more than five years, moving back and forth between London and Berlin as a research scientist.
“While I really enjoyed helping to build the language research group at DeepMind, I always knew that eventually I wanted to go out again and build another company.”
Now, he is developing Saiga, an AI-driven personal assistant, in Berlin with his co-founders Sophia Höfling and Michael Fialik.
Hermann said the product is currently available in the UK and Germany. Saiga can help users get more convenience from their lives by taking over day-to-day management tasks, such as "arranging dentist appointments, or booking restaurants and vacations."
2. Trevor Back
Trevor Back worked at DeepMind for nearly a decade before founding Shift Lab, starting a new project developing AI that can "build a far better tomorrow."
Start-up time: 2021
Backers: Undisclosed.
What he does: For nearly a decade, Edinburgh graduate Trevor Back rose through the ranks at DeepMind, holding a series of product manager roles before securing senior roles in the company's scientific and commercial sectors.
Last year, Back decided to go solo and start a new venture, Shift Lab, a new venture that promises to develop AI for a "far better tomorrow."
The company is still in stealth mode with few details, but Back is hiring everywhere, especially software, machine learning engineers, and research scientists.
3. Mustafa Suleyman
Deepmind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman teamed up with former colleagues Karen Simonyan and Linkedin billionaire Reid Hoffman.
Start-up time: 2022
Backer: VC firm Greylock Partners.
Specific job: Mustafa Suleyman is one of three co-founders of DeepMind, alongside Britons Demis Hassabis and Shane Legg.
Suleyman was transferred from DeepMind to a vice president position at parent company Google following a series of employee bullying allegations.
Nearly a year since the allegations were first reported, Suleiman announced he was leaving Google to join venture capital firm Greylock Partners.
In the podcast interview, Suleyman was asked about his "aggressive management style."
"I was in a bad mood for a while in 2017 and 2018, and several colleagues complained about my management style, and I really screwed up," he replied, adding that he "was not impressed with the impact and I'm very sorry for the hurt."
In early 2022, Suleyman revealed that he will start a new AI startup, Inflection, with billionaire and Linkedin co-founder Reid Hoffman and former DeepMind researcher Karen Simonyan.
According to CNBC, the company's goal is to "develop artificial intelligence software products that make it easier for humans to communicate with computers."
4. Andrew Eland
Andrew Eland resigned from his senior position at DeepMind to start urban planning consultancy Diagonal.
Start-up time: 2019
Backers: Undisclosed.
What it does: Diagonal, a data science consultancy focused on improving public spaces and urban infrastructure, works primarily with "urban design studios, planners, property developers, public institutions and research institutes," according to its website. .
Andrew Eland, formerly the engineering director of DeepMind, left in 2019 to start his own startup.
"We started our own business because we didn't see others building the kind of urban data analysis software we imagined," he said.
The company's mission statement is to "enhance the quality of life for city dwellers".
5. Adji Bousso Dieng
Adji Bousso Dieng hopes to change the stereotype of her hometown through her non-profit organization The Africa I Know.
Start-up time: 2020
Backers: Undisclosed.
Specific job: Adji Bousso Dieng interned at DeepMind before working as a full-time research scientist at Google, describing the former as a "very special place to do AI research."
“You can exchange ideas with anyone on any team over coffee, or jump up and write down ideas with colleagues on the whiteboard,” she says. "I learned that AI research can achieve great things when people collaborate at scale."
She founded the nonprofit The Africa I Know to help improve science education on the continent, something she said she "missed" when she was growing up in Kolac, Senegal.
"TAIK's mission is to create a world where young Africans have the confidence and education they need to build their continent," she said.
6. Miljan Martic和Peter Toth
Miljan Martic and Peter Toth have secured the backing of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz for their cryptocurrency venture Kosen Labs.
Start-up time: 2021
Backers: VC firm Andreessen Horowitz and Framework Ventures.
What it does: Kosen Labs "aims to bring the benefits of advanced AI to the Web3 world," according to a Medium post by co-founder and former DeepMind research engineer Peter Toth.
Web3 has become an all-encompassing term representing a vision for the future of the internet, encompassing everything from the metaverse to cryptocurrencies and decentralized applications.
Toth worked at DeepMind for about three years before deciding to work with colleague Miljan Martic on their own Web3 project, which won the backing of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
Kosen Labs' first project will involve applying AI to cryptocurrency trading, Toth wrote, adding that the application of AI in Web3 is "still in its infancy."
The company is also recruiting engineering talent.
7. Tiago Ramalho
Tiago Ramalho moved to Japan before establishing his own company, Recursive AI.
Start-up time: 2020
Backers: Undisclosed.
What he does: After three years at DeepMind, Ramalho briefly worked as a research scientist at Japanese AI company Cogent Labs before launching his own startup: AI consulting firm Recursive.
"I decided to build a company on the other side of the world, but most importantly, have a huge impact potential by connecting the AI innovations that are going on in the US and Europe with industrial craftsmanship that can only be found in Japan," Ramalho said.
He added that the company is working with "big companies and developing innovative projects from the ground up".
For example, a medical clinic is using Recursive's expertise to help doctors predict the outcome of a patient's surgery.
8. Hugo Penedones
Founding member of the AlphaFold team, Hugo Penedones, resigned to start AI company Inductiva.
Start-up time: 2021
Backers: Undisclosed.
Specific work: Hugo Penedones was a founding member of the AlphaFold team that led DeepMind's pioneering work on protein folding, a major challenge in the field of structural biology.
"I really enjoy applying machine learning to fundamental science problems and interacting with brilliant people with diverse backgrounds,"
His new venture in Portugal, Inductiva, faces a similar task: applying machine learning algorithms to advanced math, physics and science problems.
Penedones said his mission with co-founders Luís Sarmento and Clara Gonçalves is "to maximize positive real-world impact by accelerating basic scientific research".
9. Martin Schmid - Matej Moravcik - Rudolf Kadlec
Martin Schmid, Matej Moravcik and Rudolf Kadlec teamed up to launch EquiLibre.
Start-up time: 2022
Backers: Credo Ventures, Rockaway Capital and Miton VC.
What he does: First at IBM and then most of his time as an AI research scientist at DeepMind, Martin Schmid moved to Prague with his former colleagues Matej Moravcik and Rudolf Kadlec to launch EquiLibre in early 2022.
In Schmid’s words, EquiLibre is “building the next generation of algorithmic trading,” a machine-driven financial service that can suggest financial transactions based on data fed into its systems, or automatically execute orders on behalf of users.
"While algorithmic trading still mostly uses fairly old models and methods, we plan to apply state-of-the-art machine learning in this area," Schmid said.
Speaking of his decision to quit DeepMind, Schmid said: "It was a really hard decision. I love my colleagues, but we will regret it if we pass up this opportunity."
10. Vedavyas Panneershelvam Jim Gao
Vedavyas Panneershelvam and Jim Gao joined forces to start the energy company Phaidra.
Start-up time: 2020
Backers: VC firm Flying Fish and Firstminute Capital.
What they do: Jim Gao and Vedavyas Panneershelvam were among the most senior researchers at DeepMind before they resigned to form Phaidra, a company dedicated to applying AI to major industrial projects.
Jim Gao led a team of 14 that helped Google reduce its data center cooling bills by 40 percent, a major innovation that paved the way for Phaidra's large-scale solution.
According to the company's website, its technology has been used in industrial manufacturing projects and chemical engineering.
11. Jack Kelly
Jack Kelly was inspired to use AI to fight climate change while working at DeepMind.
Start-up time: 2019
Backers: Google, Nvidia and the Alan Turing Institute
What it does: Open Climate Fix, a London-based nonprofit whose official website says it's "completely focused on helping the energy world reduce greenhouse gas emissions at scale"
"I learned a lot during my time at DeepMind," said co-founder Jack Kelly.
"One of the most important things I've learned is to be more optimistic about the possibility of using machine learning to help mitigate climate change."
Before joining DeepMind, Kelly said he was "close to giving up" on the idea of using artificial intelligence to help combat climate change.
But working under Jim Gao, a former team leader at the company and now co-founder of energy startup Phaidra, changed his mind and attitude. "Jim's enthusiasm and optimism are very infectious."
Since its launch three years ago, Open Climate Fix has won backers including Google, Nvidia and the Alan Turing Institute.
Ongoing projects include forecasting work on solar uptake, which is expected to make it a less risky investment project for businesses and governments. and an open source data collection project working to improve the use of machine learning models in wind farms.
12. Tejas Kulkarni
Tejas Kulkarni decided to let Common Sense Machines "breakthrough beyond research papers".
Start-up time: 2020
Backers: Undisclosed.
What it does: Common Sense Machines is training AI models to create realistic 3D simulations of the real world. Such simulations can then be programmed into automated machines, allowing them to perform line processes faster and more accurately.
“My time at DeepMind was one of the most creative periods of my life. I experienced first-hand the power of smart people with strong beliefs and aligned incentives to create scientific breakthroughs,” says founder Tejas Kulkarni, who Over three years as a research scientist at DeepMind.
When asked why he decided to start his own business, he said he was driven "by making breakthroughs outside of research papers and creating opportunities for scalable impact in the real world."
13. Darrel Adjei
Darrel Adjei is "building a multi-player landscape in fintech" with payments startup Fuse.
Start-up time: 2017
Backers: Y Combinator founder Paul Graham and Gmail inventor Paul Buchheit
Specific job: In 2021, former DeepMind and Google engineer Darrell Adjei was hired as a founding engineer at payments company Fuse.
Fuse is a smart card that claims to "make you instantly break up with any payment method," challenging the dominance of payments apps like Splitwise and Venmo.
"DeepMind is a great learning environment, but I can't ignore the fact that all senior leadership has run the company in the early years, and I know that's my path as well," Adjei said.
The London-based fintech company was originally the brainchild of engineering graduate Lando Vago-ughes, who began bringing the idea to life while studying at the University of Southampton.
14. Demis Hassabis
DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis is still around, but has founded Isomorphic Labs under Alphabet.
Established: 2021
Backer: Google parent company Alphabet.
Specific work: Demis Hassabis is still at DeepMind, not a former employee of the solo venture.
But he is currently the CEO of DeepMind AI Labs and Isomorphic Labs, a new venture he founded while on the job and is part of Google's parent company Alphabet.
In a blog post a few years ago, Hassabis said he hoped to "reconstruct the entire drug discovery process from the ground up with an AI-first approach."
"One of the most important applications of AI that I can think of is in biological and medical research, a puzzle I've been passionate about for years," he wrote.
"Now is the time to accelerate this process with the focus and resources that Isomorphic Labs will bring."
Although few details of the project have emerged since then, the company is accepting applications from "biologists, medicinal chemists, biophysicists, clinicians, computational scientists and machine learning experts."
References:
https://www.businessinsider.com/former-deepmind-employees-who-founded-own-AI-startups-2022-3
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