Jared Kushner and Elad Gil launch Brain Co., raising $30M Series A to bridge AI and institutions
The startup aims to help governments and corporations deploy artificial intelligence, with backing from top Silicon Valley investors and a strategic OpenAI partnership.
Jared Kushner, the former White House adviser and son-in-law of Donald Trump, has co-founded an artificial intelligence company alongside prominent Silicon Valley investor Elad Gil and Luis Videgaray, Mexico’s former foreign minister. The new venture, called Brain Co., was announced on Wednesday with a $30 million Series A funding round.
The company’s backers include some of the most recognizable names in technology and finance. Kushner’s private equity firm, Affinity Partners, and Gil’s Gil Capital led the round, joined by angel investors such as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison, LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman, and Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora, according to Forbes.
Founded in 2024, Brain Co. employs roughly 40 people and has established a strategic partnership with OpenAI. The company aims to develop AI applications for both corporations and governments, offering a central platform through which institutions can interact with AI systems. Unlike many AI startups pursuing niche markets, Brain Co. has no plans to specialize in a single industry, instead positioning itself as a bridge between emerging AI capabilities and large-scale institutional needs.
Clemens Mewald, formerly of Google Brain and Databricks, serves as the company's CEO. Kushner described the company’s ambitions in sweeping terms, calling the rise of AI “a once-in-a-generation platform shift.” He said in a press release that the venture intends to “build a bridge between Silicon Valley’s best AI talent and the world’s most important institutions to drive global impact.”
Kushner’s Affinity Partners, founded in 2021, manages more than $4.8 billion in assets with significant backing from sovereign wealth funds in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. The firm has already made investments in Israel, including in Shlomo Group and Phoenix Insurance, and is now using its resources to help bankroll the push into AI.
