Lovelace AI, former Google exec’s startup, lands a seed round to scale crisis-ready tech

A Pittsburgh startup is betting AI can help save lives in war zones and disaster sites — and it just landed a major investment to try and prove it.

Lovelace AI, a Bakery Square-based company specializing in using AI to synthesize data for high-risk decisions, announced today it had closed a seed round led by New York firm RRE Ventures. 

The investment is a meaningful milestone in the company’s journey, said founder Andrew Moore, the former general manager of Google Cloud AI and former dean of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, in a prepared statement. 

“Can AI combined with careful mathematical statistics make sense of hopelessly complex situations quickly and accurately enough to keep humans safe?” Moore said. “That’s what the Lovelace team has been relentlessly working on, and with this new RRE partnership, we will be able to significantly accelerate.”

The funds will be used to fuel product development, talent acquisition and deployment of Lovelace AI’s core technology across both defense and commercial applications, according to the recent release. Lovelace AI did not disclose how much it raised.

Moore founded the 2024 RealLIST Startup with the mission of using cutting-edge artificial intelligence and systems engineering to enhance human safety, particularly in high-risk situations like armed conflict, disaster response, counterterrorism and defense against hostile AI systems designed to target civilians.

“Lovelace AI is … solving one of the most fundamental bottlenecks in modern computing: the ability to synthesize data across environments at operational speed,” said Will Porteous, general partner and COO at RRE Ventures, in a prepared statement. 

RRE Ventures is an early-stage investor in tech-enabled companies across a range of industries, with a portfolio that includes well-known names like BuzzFeed, Venmo and Business Insider. 

Lovelace AI did not immediately respond to Technical.ly’s request for comment. 

Early Pittsburgh Googlers branch out on their own

VCs are gravitating toward AI investments in Pittsburgh, pouring hundreds of millions into local companies. Lovelace AI’s latest news shows it’s reaping the benefits of that, too. 

The company emerged from stealth mode in 2023 and has already made big strides in the Pittsburgh tech scene. In October, it was recognized as one of the local startups that will get access to Nvidia tech for product development as a part of the “Nvidia AI Tech Community.” Plus, it’s known as one of the high-potential companies that make up “AI Avenue” in Bakery Square.

Moore has been a staple in the region for decades. In 2006, he led Google’s first Pittsburgh office. Some Googlers followed Moore to Lovelace AI, like Cofounder and Head of Engineering Toby Smith, Director of Operations Matthew Houy and several engineers.

While Moore has previously acknowledged the harms that could come from the mistreatment of AI, his ambitious vision for Lovelace AI sees it as a tool that could ultimately help humanity, he said.

“We’ve kind of got ourselves into a corner with a bunch of really serious problems and we need every tool that we actually can to help us get out of it,” Moore said at an event last year, “and I see thoughtful use of massive automation as something which is a tool on the plus side of healthcare problems.”