Application now open for AI Camp: Agents — Starting Feb 2024
We at Betaworks believe that agents will become a key element to the new AI-driven internet. If you are building in this space, please apply.
Betaworks Camp is back in session and this time, we’re looking for startups focused on AI Agents.
Betaworks has been investing in AI and machine learning since 2016, all the way back to the very first Betaworks Camp — Betaworks wrote the first check into HuggingFace as a part of BotCamp. Here’s how it works:
Betaworks will select approximately 10 companies to participate in the 13-week program. Each company will receive $500K in investment.
Alongside that investment from Betaworks and our syndication partners, participants will receive 1:1 mentorship, tailored programming, events, and product development-focused guidance. The program will take place IRL in New York City at the Betaworks offices, culminating in a Demo Day.
Applications are open now — apply here. We will be reviewing applications on a rolling basis with priority given to applicants who submit before Friday 12/29. The final deadline for applications is Friday 1/12. Camp will begin in February 2024.
Why Agents?
Our next AI Camp is focused on agents and the technology that both enables their creation and ensures they fulfill your/their goals. We believe that agents will become a key element to the new AI-driven internet. You can read more about our thesis on agents here.
In our definition, an AI Agent can:
1. Perceive, synthesize, and remember its context;
2. Independently plan a set of actions toward an abstract goal;
3. Use the tools necessary to execute against that goal without human support; and
4. Evaluate the results of its work against the overarching goal.
We’ve spent some time identifying the attributes of this category that we’d hope potential Camp companies have a unique POV on:
Autonomous — an agent must be able to perceive and synthesize data and ultimately navigate its own path of decisions via that synthesis
Language — the unlock or “why now” of agents is most certainly the rise of LLMs which can simulate some manner of cognition, providing a thoroughfare through which agents can process complex information and develop plans. Moreover, language is the native human processing language — it is both incredibly precise and highly flexible, which allows for both fine tuned control and interpretability.
Domain Native Interface — the method by which a human interacts with an agent is still highly TBD. However, our position is that agents (unlike augmentative AI which must score high on human usability) are about utility, and thus, many can be relatively unseen. Agents may very well provide the most utility when they infiltrate an already high-touch/high-visibility interface, rather than paving their own path to the user.
Personalization — By definition (at least by our definition), agents are not about a single call and response. That’s search. Because of this, the overarching goal given by a human user likely means something different to human A than it does to human B. Infrastructure that gives an agent some measure of theory of mind (see Plastic Labs from AI Camp: Augment), rather than developing an agent that reaches for the lowest common denominator, is more likely to provide high utility.
Human Guardrails — Given that agentic AI is still in its infancy, and that it’s predominantly built off of non-deterministic LLMs, the notion of agents skittering off and executing against their own plans without any checks and balances isn’t all that attractive. Our position is that the interface for agentic AI must have some concept of choke points, wherein a human can see the pathing of the agent and either approve or disapprove of the work. Furthermore, agents that can outline and ‘explain’ their work on a step-by-step basis allow for businesses, developers, and even legislators to navigate the next generation of AI and lay down policy.
Disposable — We don’t believe that all AI agents will be disposable, but we believe that disposable software is an important layer to consider when approaching agentic AI. Some of the most taxing and tedious tasks in our lives are things that we do only once or every so often, meaning that the market has not built any high-value tool for that task. Agents represent the ability to efficiently off-load a task without the high cost of developing human-built software against it.
Tool Using — Humans are only as good as the tools they can build and wield. A great deal of the value agents can provide will come from their ability to use tools, as well (see Unakin from AI Camp: Augment).
Deal Structure
For each participating Camp company, Betaworks Ventures will invest $250k on an uncapped SAFE note with a 25% discount, and receive a 5% common stock stake in the business. We’re very excited to be working alongside our friends at Differential Ventures, Mozilla Ventures — as well as a third partner to-be-announced soon — who will be adding $250k total on uncapped SAFEs with the same 25% discount.
To summarize, participating companies will receive a total of $500k on an uncapped SAFE note with a 25% discount from Betaworks + our three syndicate partners, and Betaworks will receive 5% of the company’s common stock.
The Program
What makes Camp different from other accelerators? The team at betaworks does deep research into the evolution of a new technology and we make a bet on a cohort of companies that we think are defining that category. We bring that carefully selected group of founders together to learn from one another as they embark into uncharted territory, and tap them into our people-network of portfolio founders, researchers, tech big brains and, of course, investors.
Unlike most accelerator programs, Betaworks Camp focuses specifically on product development and early product-market fit. Alongside the basics of business building, our curriculum goes deep into the focus area (in this case, agentic AI) to uncover the latest techniques, research papers, and tooling on behalf of our cohort of startups.
Each team will be paired with a mentor, and gets direct access to the Betaworks investments team on a weekly basis. We schedule office hours and learning sessions with investors and guest speakers from our roster of former portfolio company founders and investment partners. Previous mentors and guest speakers include: Clem Delangue (Hugging Face), Emad Mostaque (Stability), Mike Mignano (LSVP), Linus Lee (Notion), Hillary Mason (Hidden Door), Naomi Gleit (Meta), Brian Donohue (Instapaper), and Gilad Lotan (BuzzFeed).
We will select up to 12 teams to participate in this cohort. Camp will begin in early February, and lasts for 13 weeks. Programming takes place at the Betaworks offices in NYC’s Meatpacking District, where teams will have access to shared workspace, desks, and conference rooms. In the final week each team will present their product at Demo Day before a room of investors.
What former participants have to say about Camp:
“I’ve done other accelerators, I’ve been a mentor in some, and the spirit of the Betaworks camp is the one that best shows an understanding of what early-stage innovation really is.”
“I feel that, here, I learn by rubbing shoulders with other innovators and getting immersed in the right environment. I love it. Never lose that spirit.”
”A very valuable experience! The program was authentic and everyone brought a lot of experience to the group. My cohort continually shared valuable resources and was inspiring.”
“Overall, it was a great experience, and I would highly recommend the program to other founders. The Betaworks team and the other camp companies were super helpful.”
“I absolutely LOVED spending time here and embedding myself in this wonderful environment.”
If you are working in this space and are looking for mentorship, support, and community, then we hope you will apply to Camp. Apply here.
