All posts tagged: Khosla Ventures

Factory hits .5B valuation to build AI coding for enterprises

Factory hits $1.5B valuation to build AI coding for enterprises

Published by skeptic

More than three years after the emergence of generative AI, AI-assisted coding remains by far the most popular and lucrative use case for the technology. Although multiple companies — including Anthropic, maker of Claude Code, as well as Cursor and Cognition — are already vying for dominance, investors believe there is room for at least one more player. On Wednesday, Factory, a startup developing AI agents for enterprise engineering teams, announced it had raised $150 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, and Blackstone. Keith Rabois, a managing director at Khosla Ventures, joined the startup’s board. Factory founder Matan Grinberg told the Wall Street Journal that the company’s key differentiator is its ability to switch between different foundation models, such as Anthropic’s Claude or Chinese AI startup DeepSeek. However, startups like Cursor also don’t rely on a single model to generate code. Factory’s customers include engineering teams at Morgan Stanley, Ernst & Young, and Palo Alto Networks. The startup was founded in …

Khosla’s Keith Rabois backs Comp, which wants to bolster HR teams with AI

Khosla’s Keith Rabois backs Comp, which wants to bolster HR teams with AI

Published by skeptic

After graduating from Cornell University, Christophe Gerlach spent nearly two years investing exclusively in HR tech startups for General Atlantic. Investing was exciting, but Gerlach was yearning to get back into entrepreneurship. While at Cornell, Gerlach (pictured above, right) built and sold a food delivery startup alongside classmate Pedro Bobrow (pictured above, left), a Brazilian native. Then in late 2022, Gerlach and Bobrow (previously a product manager at Lyft) teamed up again, merging their sector expertise and cultural roots to launch Comp, an HR tech startup focused on Brazil. Comp is building AI-powered HR software that can assist with tasks like recruiting, setting compensation policies and designing performance review systems. The startup also provides “forward-deployed” experts — former HR executives — who work with customers to design strategies for compensation, performance, and recruiting. While companies in Brazil often hire compensation consultants, Gerlach says its forward-deployed HR executives shouldn’t be viewed as consultants, but rather as extensions of existing HR teams. These executives also play a critical role in refining Comp’s technology. “Our forward-deployed HR execs do …

Physical Intelligence, Stripe veteran Lachy Groom’s latest bet, is building Silicon Valley’s buzziest robot brains

Physical Intelligence, Stripe veteran Lachy Groom’s latest bet, is building Silicon Valley’s buzziest robot brains

Published by skeptic

From the street, the only indication I’ve found Physical Intelligence’s headquarters in San Francisco is a pi symbol that’s a slightly different color than the rest of the door. When I walk in, I’m immediately confronted with activity. There’s no reception desk, no gleaming logo in fluorescent lights. Inside, the space is a giant concrete box made slightly less austere by a haphazard sprawl of long blonde-wood tables. Some are clearly meant for lunch, dotted with Girl Scout cookie boxes, jars of Vegemite (someone here is Australian), and small wire baskets stuffed with one too many condiments. The rest of the tables tell a different story entirely. Many more of them are laden with monitors, spare robotics parts, tangles of black wire, and fully assembled robotic arms in various states of attempting to master the mundane. During my visit, one arm is folding a pair of black pants, or trying to. It’s not going well. Another is attempting to turn a shirt inside out with the kind of determination that suggests it will eventually succeed, …

Vinod Khosla publicly disavows Keith Rabois’ comments on ICE shooting

Vinod Khosla publicly disavows Keith Rabois’ comments on ICE shooting

Published by skeptic

To understand the stance of an unwavering Trump loyalist after United States Custom and Enforcement shocked the nation this weekend by shooting another American citizen in Minneapolis, look no further than Khosla Ventures partner Keith Rabois. Rabois’ public support for ICE’s actions in the killing of Alex Pretti, made via posts on X, was so vehement that Khosla Ventures partner Ethan Choi and firm founder Vinod Khosla both publicly disavowed it. Rabois argued that Pretti was at fault, writing that the protester was committing a “felony.” One of Rabois’ posts said, “[N]o law enforcement has shot an innocent person. [I[llegals are committing violent crimes every day.” Another said: “[H]e unequivocally attempted to draw his weapon. [F]uck you.” In another post that discussed citizens’ ability to exercise their First, Second and Fourth Amendment rights, the VC responded weighed in to write: “[Y]es but interfering w a law enforcement operation is not protected by any of those amendments.” Among other comments, Rabois went on to say he doesn’t believe that the Minneapolis police could be credible sources …