How a former DeepMind researcher raised a $300 million seed valuation before launching the product

Andrew Day left Google DeepMind knowing that visual AI was the frontier where he wanted to invest. He has raised massive donations that have resulted in a valuation-to-capitalization ratio that is even more aggressive than the one he achieved. Thinking machineswhich sparked one of the largest tours in US history.

In this episode of construction mode, Host and Startup Battlefield leader Isabelle Johansen sits down with Andrew Day, founder and CEO Ilorian and former Google DeepMind researcher, to discuss how his company raised a $55 million seed round at a $300 million valuation just months after leaving Google.

Drawing on more than a decade spent helping build some of the world’s most influential AI systems, including research that later contributed to the development of ChatGPT, Andrew explains why he believes visual AI is one of the next major frontiers in AI. “You have models that do really great at math, really great at new physics ideas, and of course programming is very popular now…but one area where progress has been very uneven is visual understanding and visual thinking,” Day said. “At Elorian, we want to build models that will move us toward visual general artificial intelligence.”

Andrew walks through the fundraising process from a founder’s perspective, including how he refined a highly technical vision and turned it into a compelling story that investors could understand. He explains why strategic partners like Nvidia and Menlo Ventures are prioritized over higher valuation offers, and how selecting investors who understand the realities of building frontier AI has proven to be more valuable than simply maximizing his company’s price.

The conversation also offers practical lessons for founders navigating today’s rapidly evolving AI landscape. Andrew shares how startups can communicate complex technical ideas without relying on jargon, why speed has become one of the biggest competitive advantages in AI, and what it takes to hire world-class researchers beyond the big tech companies.

In this episode you will learn:

• What top venture capital firms look for when investing in AI startups.
• Why a higher rating isn’t always a better fundraising outcome
• How to pitch high-tech products to non-technical investors.
• What should founders look for when choosing venture capital partners?
• How startups can hire top AI talent away from big tech companies.
• Why speed has become one of the biggest competitive advantages in AI.
• How founders can build solid moats as AI technology evolves.

This season in Build Mode, we dive into all aspects of fundraising with experts with first-hand experience raising huge pre-seed rounds, writing big checks, bootstrapping, going public, and navigating the unpredictable market conditions that can change everything.

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