Fund profile / United States

Zero Shot Fund I

Geography: United States
Stage: Seed
Fund size: $100M
Focus: AI/ML and Robotics & Automation
Signals: Published

N°01 / About

About Zero Shot Fund I

Zero Shot Fund I is a $100M debut seed fund led by ex-OpenAI applied engineering chief and alumni. Invests in AI startups positioned to survive the next model release, deliberately avoiding categories frontier models will absorb. Portfolio includes Worktrace AI and Foundry Robotics.

N°02 / Thesis

Investment Focus

Location / RegionUnited States

Funding StageSeed

Industry Focus

AI/ML

Robotics & Automation

Investor Signals Profile

active

Sweet Spot

Technical AI founders building durable moats above or below frontier model layers

AI applications

frontier-model-proof moats

seed-stage

negative thesis

hardware-plus-AI

Bullish Signals

First close completed, already writing checks into Worktrace AI and Foundry Roboticsblog

Insider roadmap visibility gives rare ability to evaluate technical moats fastblog

Responsive to inbound founders in non-excluded categoriesblog

Contrarian Signals

Five first-time GPs with no prior investing track recordblog

Explicitly avoids vibe coding, digital twins, egocentric-video roboticsblog

No experienced GP to anchor portfolio construction disciplineblog

Founder Do's

Clearly explain why your company survives GPT-6 shipping

Build above or below the model layer, not as a thin wrapper

Emphasize physical, workflow, or integration moats

Expect fast, technical diligence — come prepared with depth

Use Andrew Mayne's public profile as an inbound entry point

Founder Don'ts

Do not pitch vibe coding platforms or prompt-layer wrappers

Avoid digital twin or egocentric-video robotics training plays

Do not come without a credible answer to model commoditization risk

19 signals on Zero Shot Fund I

3 bullish · 3 contrarian · 5 pitch do's · 3 don'ts · 5 GP profiles, each with its source. From €9/month, cancel anytime.

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Facts

Fund Overview

Fund Size$100M

Saves0

Website

People

Key People

Evan Morikawa

Evan MorikawaGeneral Partner

Andrew MayneGeneral Partner

Shawn JainGeneral Partner

Kelly KovacsGeneral Partner

Brett RounsavilleGeneral Partner

N°04 / See also

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