AI Godfather Yan Likun Officially Takes the Stage as a VC, Managing a Fund of Over $100 Million

According to Intuition Beating monitoring, former Meta Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun and former Co-CTO of Gemini Oriol Vinyals have joined the newly established AI venture firm 224 Ventures. The fund currently manages assets exceeding $100 million and is operated by former AIX Ventures founder Shaun Johnson.

224 focuses on investing in early-stage AI companies, with a focus on AI applications, robotics, infrastructure, and model technologies. The typical investment size ranges from $1 million to $5 million, targeting companies with a valuation below $1 billion. The fund usually participates as a follow-on investor and does not lead investments.

The target size of 224's core early-stage fund is $81 million, with over $30 million already raised. The existing assets under management also include funds previously allocated through a special investment vehicle to growth-stage AI companies. After the core fund's fundraising is completed, 224's total AUM is expected to reach at least $150 million.

Yann LeCun will continue to focus on AMI Labs as his primary endeavor, while Vinyals has also founded the AI company Discovery Loop. LeCun and Vinyals will be involved in project sourcing, technology evaluation, and investment decisions, with Johnson overseeing the fund's day-to-day operations. The fund's LPs are mostly from the AI industry, including researchers, tech company executives, and entrepreneurs.