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Sebastian Thrun's startup Dulo raises $130M to automate hardware design with AI

Dulo, a new AI engineering startup co-founded by Sebastian Thrun, has secured $130 million in seed funding to build foundation models capable of designing planes, cars, and other complex hardware.

Sebastian Thrun, the computer scientist who helped launch Google Brain and the self-driving project that became Waymo, has co-founded a new startup called Dulo to automate engineering design, The Information reported. The company raised $130 million in seed funding to build foundation models for hardware design.[1][2][4][7]

Investors backing the $130 million round include Eric Schmidt, John Doerr, Kleiner Perkins, and DST Global. According to the report, Dulo is developing artificial intelligence models designed to turn a prompt into valid designs for cars, planes, and other complex machinery.[1][3][5][6]

The initiative positions Dulo in direct competition with rival hardware-design startups supported by tech billionaires Jeff Bezos and Larry Page.[3]

Key facts

  • Sebastian Thrun co-founded Dulo to create AI models that automate engineering and hardware design.
  • Dulo raised $130 million in seed funding.
  • Investors in the seed round include Eric Schmidt, John Doerr, Kleiner Perkins, and DST Global.
  • Dulo is building models aimed at generating valid car and plane designs from prompts.
  • The effort places Dulo in competition with hardware-design startups backed by Jeff Bezos and Larry Page.
  • Sebastian Thrun previously helped launch Google Brain and the self-driving car initiative that became Waymo.

Sources · 3 sources

  1. TI

    The Information@theinformationPost on X ·

    Exclusive: Google AI pioneer Sebastian Thrun has raised $130 million in seed funding for Dulo, a startup developing AI models to automate engineering design. Investors include Eric Schmidt, John Doerr and Kleiner Perkins. Full story: https://t.co/y7uWvWnGrV

    Open source
  2. TI

    The Information@theinformationPost on X ·

    Sebastian Thrun, who helped launch Google Brain and the self-driving project that became Waymo, is turning his attention to AI-powered engineering. His new startup, Dulo, has raised $130 million to develop models that can design planes, cars and other complex hardware. More details: https://t.co/RhADr3j6io

    Open source
  3. TI

    The Information@theinformationPost on X ·

    Exclusive: Sebastian Thrun’s Dulo is developing AI models that could turn a prompt into a valid car or plane design, putting it in competition with startups backed by Jeff Bezos and Larry Page. Full story: https://t.co/y7uWvWnGrV

    Open source
  4. TE

    Techmeme@TechmemePost on X ·

    Source: Dulo, a startup co-founded by Google veteran Sebastian Thrun to build "foundation models for hardware design", raised a $130M seed (@rocketalignment / The Information) (Visit Techmeme dot com for the link and full context!)

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  5. TI

    The Information@theinformationPost on X ·

    Exclusive: Sebastian Thrun’s new AI startup Dulo has secured $130 million in seed funding from investors including Eric Schmidt, John Doerr and DST Global. Full story: https://t.co/y7uWvWnGrV

    Open source
  6. TI

    The Information@theinformationPost on X ·

    Exclusive: Sebastian Thrun, who helped launch Google Brain and the project that became Waymo, is taking on a new AI challenge: engineering. His startup Dulo has raised $130 million to develop models that could design cars, planes and other hardware Full story: https://t.co/RCA1WO4KxM

    Open source
  7. TE

    TechmemeArticle ·

    Source: Dulo, a startup co-founded by Google veteran Sebastian Thrun to build "foundation models for hardware design", raised a $130M seed (Rocket Drew/The Information) Rocket Drew / The Information : Source: Dulo, a startup co-founded by Google veteran Sebastian Thrun to build “foundation models for hardware design”, raised a $130M seed — Sebastian Thrun, the computer scientist who pioneered several AI projects at Google, has co-founded a new startup focused on creating AI models …

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