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Fundamental Research Labs

Category: AI Agents

An applied AI research company building AI agents and digital humans designed to learn, grow, and automate tasks alongside users. Fundamental Research Labs was founded in 2023. The company is led by Robert Yang. Based in San Francisco, USA. Team size: 11-50. Total funding raised: $42 million. Latest round: Series A. Key investors include Prosus Ventures, Patrick Collison, First Spark Ventures, Patron, a16z Speedrun, Eric Schmidt.

Founded
2023
Headquarters
San Francisco, USA
Team size
11-50
Total funding
$42 million

Value proposition

To create AI agents that can automate complex workflows, enhance productivity, and interact with users in a human-like way, effectively acting as digital partners.

Products and solutions

Fairies: A general-purpose consumer assistant for automating digital tasks and workflows., Shortcut: An AI agent specifically designed to automate and perform tasks within Microsoft Excel.

Unique value

The company's core focus is on building 'digital humans'—AI agents with the capacity for learning, memory, and growth, moving beyond simple task automation to create partners that can collaborate with users.

Target customer

Both general consumers and business/enterprise users, particularly those in roles requiring high productivity and data interaction (e.g., financial analysts, data scientists).

Industries served

Technology, Finance, Gaming, General Productivity

Technology advantage

Their primary advantage lies in developing sophisticated, multi-purpose AI agents that can operate across various applications and verticals. By launching specific, revenue-generating products like Shortcut, they are able to fund their long-term, more ambitious research into general-purpose digital humans.

How they differentiate

Fundamental Research Labs is focusing on building AI agents that can perform complex, multi-step tasks across various digital platforms. Their initial go-to-market has been through gaming platforms like Roblox and Minecraft, where they have tested their agents with over a million users. This approach allows them to gather vast amounts of data on human-computer interaction to improve their agents. They are also focused on building a sustainable business model from the outset, charging for their agents after a trial period.

Main competitors

OpenAI, Adept AI, Imbue

Key partnerships

Prosus (Lead Investor), Patrick Collison (Investor)

Notable customers

Not publicly available

Major milestones

Raised a $33 million Series A round led by Prosus Ventures., Successfully deployed AI agents in Minecraft and Roblox, with over a million users interacting with them., Changed its name from Altera to Fundamental Research Labs.

Growth metrics

The company is already generating revenue by charging users for its AI agent after a seven-day trial. Over a million people have interacted with their agents in games like Minecraft and Roblox.

Market positioning

Fundamental Research Labs is positioning itself as a key player in the emerging market of AI agents. They are targeting both consumer and enterprise use cases, with initial products in gaming and productivity. Their focus on building agents that can be controlled through natural language and can operate across different software environments places them in the category of companies building foundational models for AI agents.

Geographic focus

While the company is based in San Francisco, its focus is global, as is typical for AI and software companies. Their initial user base in gaming is geographically diverse.

Patents and IP

No public patents have been found at this time.

About Robert Yang

Former faculty member at MIT's Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, and previously a Junior Fellow at the Simons Society of Fellows. Holds a PhD in computational neuroscience.

Official website: