Prentis, AI Lab Startup by Reid Hoffman and Mark Pincus, in Talks to Raise $100 Million
Prentis, an artificial intelligence research laboratory focused on computer-use models, is in talks for a new funding round at a valuation of up to $1 billion.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Prentis negotiates $100 million funding at a $1 billion company valuation
- Focuses on developing AI models to control computers for automated office work
- Founded in April by Ritankar Das alongside Reid Hoffman and Mark Pincus
- Employs over 25 people, including former researchers from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Meta
Prentis, an artificial intelligence research startup founded last April, is in talks to raise $100 million at a valuation soaring to $1 billion, according to two sources close to the discussions. The co-founders include 31-year-old CEO Ritankar Das, alongside prominent tech figures Reid Hoffman and Mark Pincus.
The primary goal of Prentis is to train AI models to learn systems and documents in the routine workflows of office workers, creating AI agents capable of controlling computers and performing those tasks automatically on behalf of humans. The company plans to develop agents that cater to specific customer segments, such as managing insurance claims and handling custom tax return exceptions, eliminating the need for humans to manually search through documents.
Stock photo for illustration purposes only, not from actual events
Even though the company is betting that office automation will soon become the largest AI use case surpassing coding, this market is intensely competitive. Rivals such as Anthropic, OpenAI, and Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab are developing AI agents for computer use as well. Previously, Anthropic acquired the computer-use startup Vercept and brought its founders on board.
The shift by AI startups toward 'Computer Use'—allowing AI to control screens and software instead of humans—marks a major milestone moving beyond using AI to generate text or code to acting as an actual operational assistant at the operating system level, which is more challenging and requires real-time understanding of screen context.
Regarding the background of the co-founders, Ritankar Das is a former UC Berkeley University Medalist who graduated with a bachelor's degree at age 18 before founding Titan, a holding company operating multiple AI startups such as Tala Health, Forta Health, and Dascena. Meanwhile, Mark Pincus, the founder of Zynga, currently manages an investment firm named Reinvent Capital, with Reid Hoffman serving as a senior advisor.
Source: TechCrunch
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