AI Lab Prentis, Co-Founded by Reid Hoffman and Mark Pincus, in Talks for $100M Raise

Prentis, a new AI research lab focused on developing models that can control computers, is in talks to raise $100 million at a valuation of $1 billion, according to sources familiar with the discussions. Co-founded by serial entrepreneur Ritankar Das and tech luminaries Reid Hoffman and Mark Pincus, the startup launched in April and is already pursuing significant customer contracts to automate everyday office workflows.

Key takeaways

• Prentis is in discussions to raise $100 million at a $1 billion pre-money valuation.
• The AI lab, co-founded by Ritankar Das, Reid Hoffman, and Mark Pincus, is training models to automate routine computer tasks for office workers.
• The startup has already signed customer contracts worth up to $50 million and projects an estimated $75 million annualized run rate by Q3 2024.
• Prentis claims its Hive-32B model outperforms rivals like OpenAI’s GPT-5.4 and Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6 on key computer-use benchmarks at roughly 10 times lower cost per task.
• The company has hired over 25 employees, including researchers from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Meta, Tencent, and Alibaba.

Aiming to automate the office

Prentis is training AI models to learn how office workers navigate routine workflows across documents and systems, with the ultimate goal of building AI agents that can control computers to automate those tasks. The startup plans to develop agents tailored to specific customer needs, such as handling insurance claims or automating customs duty refund exceptions without human intervention. According to sources, Prentis has already signed contracts worth up to $50 million with several customers, including a healthcare management service organization and multiple manufacturers. Investor materials predict an estimated $75 million annualized run rate by the third quarter of this year, though the company notes these figures are based on a contracted fee equal to 20% of savings realized and are performance-dependent.

Technical claims and market competition

In its pitch deck, Prentis claims its Hive-32B model outperforms rivals, including OpenAI’s GPT-5.4 and Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6, on two computer-use benchmarks: WindowsAgentArena, which measures end-to-end task completion on real Windows applications, and ScreenSpot-v2, which tests a model’s ability to locate the right on-screen control. The company argues its competitive edge comes from running a much smaller, cheaper model, claiming roughly 10 times lower cost per task than frontier model APIs. TechCrunch has not independently verified these benchmark results. The startup is betting that automating everyday office tasks will soon outpace coding as AI’s biggest use case, but it enters a crowded field. Anthropic, OpenAI, and Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab are also working on AI agents for computer use. Notably, Anthropic acquired the Seattle computer-use startup Vercept earlier this year.

The founders behind the lab

Prentis is led by CEO Ritankar Das, who is also the founder of Titan, a holding company that builds and operates AI companies. Das, 31, was UC Berkeley’s youngest University Medalist in over a century, graduating at 18. He founded Titan in 2014 after dropping out of an AI PhD program at Cambridge. Other businesses launched by Titan include Tala Health and Forta Health. For co-founders Reid Hoffman and Mark Pincus, Prentis is described as a side project. Hoffman, the LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock partner, recently stepped down from Microsoft’s board to focus on other AI ventures, including Manas AI. Pincus, the Zynga founder, runs the investment firm Reinvent Capital with Hoffman as a senior adviser.

Why it matters

The potential funding round and ambitious valuation for Prentis signal strong investor interest in the practical application of AI for workplace automation, moving beyond text generation to direct computer control. The startup’s early customer traction and claims of superior cost-efficiency position it as a contender in a market also being pursued by AI giants. However, the unverified performance claims and the nascent, competitive nature of the AI agent space mean its success is far from guaranteed. The involvement of high-profile founders like Hoffman and Pincus adds credibility but also highlights the fragmented focus of top tech talent across multiple, simultaneous AI ventures.