Chris Re
About Chris Re
Chris Re (also written Chris Ré) is a professor of computer science at Stanford University. He is in the Stanford AI Lab and the Center for Research on Foundation Models. He received a B.S. from Cornell and a Ph.D. from the University of Washington, and was a MacArthur Fellow in 2015.
He has co-founded companies based on his lab's research. These include SambaNova, Snorkel AI and Together AI, plus Lattice (acquired by Apple in 2017) and Inductiv (acquired by Apple in 2020). Snorkel began as a Stanford AI Lab research project in 2015 and became a company in 2019. Stanford's data science page also credits him with co-founding a venture firm called Factory.
Crunchbase lists Chris Re as an individual investor. Its profiles show a handful of personal investments, and the count differs between profiles. Tracxn lists seven portfolio companies, all in the United States, with Mercor and Artera among the most notable. Its most recent entry there is a seed round in Bauplan Labs on April 16, 2025.
His GV advisor biography says he loves investing in technology companies and built a firm to do more of it. He has not published a check size or a fund size that we could find.
On the Lounge deals desk, Chris Re appears in three AI rounds: Flapping Airplanes (Seed, $180M, January 2026), Engram (Seed, $98M, June 2026) and Grubel (Pre-seed, EUR 3M, September 2026).
Flapping Airplanes is an AI research lab. Its $180M seed was led by GV, Index Ventures and Sequoia Capital, with Menlo Ventures, Andrej Karpathy, Jeff Dean and Chris Re participating. Engram is building a learned memory layer for AI. He is listed as a co-founder, and Factory, the venture firm he co-founded, took part in the round. Crunchbase lists Grubel as his latest investment on one of its profiles.
His investments and companies are concentrated in AI and machine learning, including data-centric AI, AI hardware and systems, and enterprise applications. Public records show seed-stage rounds and a pre-seed round. Tracxn lists his investments as US-based, though Grubel's round is denominated in euros. He has not published a check size, and he has not published an investment thesis in his own words that we could find.
- Flapping Airplanes: AI research lab building models that need less data and compute; $180M seed, January 2026.
- Engram: learned memory layer for enterprise AI; co-founder, $98M round in June 2026.
- Grubel: pre-seed round of EUR 3M, September 2026.
- Mercor: listed by Tracxn among his notable investments; year not stated.
- Artera: listed by Tracxn among his notable investments; year not stated.
- Bauplan Labs: seed round, April 2025 (per Tracxn).
- Snorkel AI: co-founder; started as Stanford research in 2015, company formed in 2019.
- Together AI: co-founder, per Crunchbase and Stanford.
- SambaNova: co-founder, per SambaNova's team page.
Investing activity
Chris Re appears in 3 AI deals tracked by the Lounge deals desk, rounds totalling $278M. The rounds are mostly Seed and Pre-seed, with a median round size of $98M and the largest at $180M. The most recent are Grubel (Pre-seed, €3M, Sep 2026), Engram (Seed, $98M, Jun 2026) and Flapping Airplanes (Seed, $180M, Jan 2026).
Chris Re most often invests alongside Sequoia Capital, Andrej Karpathy, Point Nine and Winston Weinberg, and the companies they back on Lounge are mostly in AI and AI research lab.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Chris Re
Who is Chris Re?
Chris Re is a Stanford computer science professor and a MacArthur Fellow. He co-founded SambaNova, Snorkel AI and Together AI, and he invests as an angel in AI startups.
What AI startups has Chris Re invested in?
On Lounge's deals desk he appears in Flapping Airplanes (Seed, January 2026), Engram (Seed, June 2026) and Grubel (Pre-seed, September 2026). Tracxn also lists Mercor, Artera and Bauplan Labs.
What is Chris Re's angel check size?
It is not public. We found no stated check size for Chris Re, so founders should not assume a range.
What stage does Chris Re invest in?
His public AI rounds are pre-seed and seed. Tracxn lists his most recent entry as a seed round in Bauplan Labs in April 2025.
What sectors does Chris Re back?
His investments and companies centre on AI and machine learning, including data infrastructure, AI hardware and enterprise AI applications. His lab's research covers foundation models and ML systems.
How can founders reach Chris Re?
His Stanford homepage lists an email address and links to his lab's blog and Twitter. Founders with a Stanford or research connection may have a warmer route in, but no public pitch process was found.
Is Chris Re an angel investor?
Yes. Chris Re invests personally as an angel.
What AI companies has Chris Re invested in?
Chris Re's AI investments include Grubel, Engram and Flapping Airplanes. The 3 rounds on Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
What stage does Chris Re invest at?
In the rounds tracked on Lounge, Chris Re has invested at Seed and Pre-seed, with a median round of $98M.
Who does Chris Re co-invest with?
Chris Re's most frequent co-investors on Lounge are Sequoia Capital (2 deals), Andrej Karpathy (2 deals), Point Nine (1 deal), Winston Weinberg (1 deal) and Gabe Pereyra (1 deal).