Mayfield Fund Launches AI Garage to Foster Next-Generation AI Teammate Startups

Navin Chaddha, the leader and managing partner of the 55-year-old venture capital firm Mayfield Fund, is known for his distinctive approach to venture investing. Instead of following traditional methods, Chaddha and Mayfield Fund are venturing into new territory with their latest initiative, AI Garage. 

Recently, Mayfield Fund raised a $955 million fund, but Chaddha emphasized that the firm doesn’t need to follow the trend of multibillion-dollar funds, stating, “copying somebody else is strategy for disaster, strategy for failure.” This philosophy is evident in their new $100 million initiative aimed at ideation-stage founders focused on creating “AI teammate” companies.

AI Garage seeks to differentiate itself from existing accelerators and pre-seed programs by emulating the firm's successful entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) model. Historically, Mayfield has hired one or two EIRs annually, helping them transform initial concepts into viable companies. The new program will scale this approach by inviting up to five aspiring founders to join the firm’s office every six months

Participants in AI Garage won’t receive immediate capital but will benefit from substantial support once their business plans are developed. Mayfield plans to allocate between $1 million and $5 million to these startups, offering access to resources such as marketing, talent acquisition, and business development.

Chaddha’s focus with AI Garage is on early access to AI application startups, particularly those involving what he terms “AI teammates.” Unlike traditional AI assistants or copilots, AI teammates are designed to collaborate with humans on complex tasks to achieve shared goals, enhancing human capabilities in various fields such as product development, sales, customer service, IT, and more.

Mayfield has already invested in several AI teammate companies, including DevRev, Docket, and NeuBird. For instance, NeuBird’s AI works alongside human site reliability engineers to manage site outages, escalating issues to humans only when necessary—a prime example of what Chaddha envisions as a true AI teammate.