Fundamental Research Labs Raises $33 Million to Build AI Agents

Applied AI research company Fundamental Research Labs (formerly known as Altera) announced that it has raised $33 million in Series A funding led by Prosus with participation from Stripe co-founder and CEO Patrick Collison. The company has a unique structure, working on multiple AI applications in different fields.

Among the products Fundamental Research Labs offers is a general-purpose consumer assistant called Fairies, which allows users to chat with an AI bot, connect applications, and ask questions across the knowledge bases of those applications. The company also offers a spreadsheet-based agent called Shortcut, which has been used by analysts for creating different financial models and performing analysis over them.

The startup said that this agent works like a junior analyst and can do work autonomously. The company has made it look like Excel and has tried to retain a lot of functionality for power users. Fundamental Research Labs wants to be a “historical” company without adhering to a typical startup structure, according to its founder, Dr. Robert Yang.

Yang said that the company is already charging users for this agent after a seven-day trial and bringing in revenue. The company is open to trying out various application models and eventually wants to build robots as well. “We are working on productivity (apps) now because that is where the most value is created. You can make a lot of money doing this and build your team and tech. Eventually, we want to solve physical problems and move towards working on embodiment,” Yang said.