The founder who left Google and secured a $300M pre-seed valuation in months

Building an AI startup is one thing. Raising one of the largest seed rounds of the year before launching a product is something else entirely.

In this episode of Build Mode, host and Startup Battlefield lead Isabelle Johannessen sits down with Andrew Dai, founder and CEO of Elorian and former Google DeepMind researcher, to unpack how his company raised a $55 million seed round at a $300 million valuation before generating revenue or releasing a product.

Andrew shares what investors saw in Elorian’s vision for visual AI, how he approached fundraising after leaving Google DeepMind, and why choosing the right investors mattered more than maximizing valuation. He also offers practical advice for founders building in AI, explains why today’s fundraising environment rewards clear storytelling over technical jargon, and shares what surprised him most as a first-time founder.

They get into:

How Elorian raised a $55 million seed round before launching a product.

Why visual AI is one of the next major frontiers in artificial intelligence.

What investors look for when backing frontier AI startups.

Why the highest valuation isn’t always the best fundraising outcome.

How to pitch highly technical products to nontechnical investors.

What founders should look for when choosing venture capital partners.

How to hire top AI talent away from Big Tech.

Why moving quickly matters more than ever in today’s AI race.

How founders can build defensible AI companies as technology evolves.

Andrew’s advice for first-time founders raising venture capital.

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