Alumni of Waymo (Google self-driving project) · Mountain View

Google Self-Driving Mafia

Google's self-driving car project trained the founders of three autonomous vehicle companies.

3alumni startups
3named on Labspie
4founders
$8.6bnin unicorn valuations
Aurora InnovationChris UrmsonNuroJiajun Zhu, Dave FergusonKodiak RoboticsDon BurnetteWaymo

The companies

CompanyFounded by (Waymo (Google self-driving project) alumni)FieldBased inValuation
Aurora Innovation
Self-driving trucks.
Chris UrmsonHardwarePittsburgh, United States–
Nuro
Autonomous driving software.
Jiajun Zhu, Dave FergusonHardwareMountain View, United States$8.6bn
Kodiak Robotics
Autonomous trucking.
Don BurnetteHardwareMountain View, United States–

More mafias

Alumni of PayPal

PayPal Mafia

The original startup mafia. Early PayPal staff went on to found or fund LinkedIn, YouTube, Yelp, Tesla, SpaceX and Palantir.

TeslaSpaceXLinkedInYouTubeYelpPalantir+2
10 founders named8 startups
Alumni of OpenAI$1.03tn in unicorns

OpenAI Mafia

Researchers and leaders who left OpenAI have started several of the most valuable AI labs of the decade.

AnthropicSafe SuperintelligenceThinking Machines LabPerplexityAdeptCovariant+2
19 founders named8 startups
Alumni of Google DeepMind$19.1bn in unicorns

DeepMind Mafia

London's deepest bench of AI talent. DeepMind alumni now run labs in London, Paris, New York and the Bay Area.

Inflection AIMistral AIIsomorphic LabsLatent LabsIneffable IntelligenceH Company+2
11 founders named8 startups