Sam Altman backs Alfred, a physical AI startup for robotics
Key takeaways
- Hydrazine Capital, Altman s venture firm, is the vehicle through which he made the investment, according to Business Insider.
- Alfred was founded roughly nine months ago and is based in Hawthorne, California.
- The startup s flagship platform is still under development.
Sam Altman backs Alfred, a physical AI startup for robotics Quartz · Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images Cris Tolomia Tue, June 2, 2026 at 7:27 PM GMT+7 2 min read TSLA HMC Open AI CEO Sam Altman is backing Alfred, a startup building software to help engineers at robotics and automotive companies reduce research and development timelines, according to Business Insider.
Hydrazine Capital, Altman s venture firm, is the vehicle through which he made the investment, according to Business Insider. Additional backers include Khosla Ventures, SV Angel, and Chapter One, among others; co-founder Ankit Ukil told Business Insider that the round is targeting a $40 million valuation.
Alfred was founded roughly nine months ago and is based in Hawthorne, California. The founding team pairs Ankit Ukil, who comes from a design role at Tesla, with Dömötör Gulyas, who previously worked as an engineer at Meta Reality Labs. Other team members have backgrounds at Tesla, Ford, and Honda, according to Business Insider.