Recursive Superintelligence, a four-month-old AI startup founded by former Google DeepMind and OpenAI engineers, has raised $500 million in funding. The company, valued at $4 billion pre-money, secured backing from GV (formerly Google Ventures) and chipmaker Nvidia. The round was so oversubscribed that Recursive could potentially raise as much as $1 billion total, reflecting intense investor confidence in the nascent firm's ambitious goal of creating self-teaching artificial intelligence.

Recursive's leadership includes Richard Socher, former Salesforce.com chief scientist, and Tim Rocktäschel, a University College London professor who previously worked at Google DeepMind. The team comprises approximately 20 staff members, including former OpenAI researchers Josh Tobin, Jeff Clune, and Tim Shi, as well as talent from Google and Meta. One source described the team as "ridiculously strong," underscoring the pedigree of researchers drawn from top AI organizations.

The fundraising comes amid unprecedented venture capital enthusiasm for AI startups, with $300 billion invested in the first quarter of 2026 alone. Recursive aims to develop an AI system capable of continuous self-improvement without human intervention, though this concept remains at the research stage. The company represents a trend of new AI research labs spinning out from major tech firms, hoping to explore novel approaches while larger players focus on scaling existing platforms.