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Fundamental Research Labs Raises $33M to Build AI-Powered Assistants—and Eventually, Robots
August 1, 2025
Fundamental Research Labs, an applied AI startup formerly known as Altera, has raised $33 million in Series A funding to continue developing its growing portfolio of AI agents and productivity tools. The round was led by Prosus, with participation from Stripe CEO and co-founder Patrick Collison.
The company, founded by former MIT faculty member Dr. Robert Yang, is taking a nontraditional approach to building AI tools by operating multiple internal teams across games, prosumer applications, core research, and platform infrastructure. Rather than focusing on a single product, the startup is exploring a variety of AI use cases, all centered around the long-term goal of creating "digital humans"—and eventually, physical robots.
Among its flagship products are Fairies, a general-purpose consumer assistant that can chat with users, connect to apps, and automate workflows like scheduling meetings and managing tasks across platforms. Fairies is already in use and generating revenue after a short free trial period.
Another tool, Shortcut, is designed for spreadsheet power users and financial analysts. Built to resemble Excel, Shortcut functions as an autonomous junior analyst, capable of building models and performing analyses with minimal human input.
"We’ve seen many early-stage startups, but what stood out here is a small, highly mission-driven team focused on digital humans with actual use cases," said Prosus investment partner Sandeep Bakshi. "Their recent launches aren’t just demos—they’re already demonstrating how AI can augment the human workforce in meaningful ways."
The startup previously raised $9 million in a seed round co-led by First Spark Ventures and Patron, with participation from a16z Speedrun and Eric Schmidt. With this latest raise, Fundamental Research Labs has brought in over $40 million in total funding.
Yang emphasized that the company’s current focus on productivity tools is strategic. “You can make a lot of money doing this and build your team and tech,” he said. “Eventually, we want to solve physical problems and move towards working on embodiment.”
With real products already in users’ hands and an ambitious roadmap ahead, the startup is positioning itself not just as an app builder, but as a long-term force in AI-driven automation.
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