Brain Co.: Jared Kushner's New Venture to Help Businesses and Governments Harness AI

Jared Kushner, former White House advisor and son-in-law of President Donald Trump, has co-founded Brain Co., a startup aimed at assisting large corporations and governments in applying artificial intelligence to their operations. He teamed up with prolific investor Elad Gil and former Mexican foreign minister Luis Videgaray to launch the company, which recently emerged from stealth with a $30 million Series A funding round led by Kushner's private equity firm Affinity Partners and Gil's Gil Capital.

Getty Images

Key Developments and Funding

Founded in 2024, Brain Co. is based in San Francisco and has around 40 employees. It has secured backing from high-profile angel investors including Brian Armstrong (Coinbase CEO), Patrick Collison (Stripe CEO), Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn co-founder), and Nikesh Arora (Palo Alto Networks CEO). The startup has already partnered with major clients such as Sotheby's, Warburg Pincus, and various government institutions, energy providers, healthcare systems, hotels, and restaurant chains.

Addressing the AI Implementation Challenge

Many companies struggle with integrating AI, with a recent MIT study indicating that 95% of generative AI pilot programs fail. Brain Co. aims to solve this by developing custom applications and providing a central platform for clients to interface with AI software. The company leverages foundation models like OpenAI's GPT-5, along with proprietary in-house models and agents, to tackle tasks such as streamlining hotel bookings and optimizing energy consumption in industrial plants.

Cross-Industry Applications

CEO Clemens Mewald, formerly of Google Brain and Databricks, emphasizes that Brain Co. does not specialize in one sector. Instead, it focuses on use cases that are similar across industries, such as processing construction permits and insurance claims, which both involve rule-based assessments. This approach allows knowledge and technology to transfer between different clients.

Origins and Team Building

The idea for Brain Co. originated from a meeting in February 2024 between Kushner, Gil, and Videgaray. They were joined by co-founders including Eric Wu (Opendoor CEO) as chairman and Mewald as CEO. In September 2024, the company acquired Serene AI, bringing in its co-founders to enhance application development. Additional team members include former Trump administration officials Charlton Boyd and Nick Butterfield, who are helping forge partnerships.

Kushner, who founded Affinity Partners in 2021 with over $4.8 billion in assets, will act as an involved board member. The startup's strategic partnership with OpenAI and plans for collaborations with other AI labs underscore its commitment to driving global impact through AI innovation.