Fei-Fei Li
About Fei-Fei Li
Fei-Fei Li is the inaugural Sequoia Professor in Stanford's Computer Science Department and a founding co-director of Stanford's Human-Centered AI Institute. She directed Stanford's AI Lab from 2013 to 2018. She holds a physics degree from Princeton (1999) and a PhD in electrical engineering from Caltech (2005), according to her Stanford profile.
In industry, she was Vice President at Google and Chief Scientist of AI/ML at Google Cloud from 2017 to 2018. She has also been a board member or advisor at public and private companies, Twitter among them. She co-founded the nonprofit AI4ALL and sits on its board, and she wrote the book The Worlds I See.
In October 2023 she co-founded World Labs with Justin Johnson, Christoph Lassner and Ben Mildenhall. She is its CEO. World Labs works on spatial intelligence and generative AI. PitchBook also lists her as a co-founder of Astrocade and DawnLight, a Scientific Partner at Radical Ventures, an advisor to Twelve Labs and a board member at Nimble Robotics.
Fei-Fei Li invests personal money as an angel and is not a fund manager. Crunchbase data we hold shows 14 investments, 0 lead investments, 0 exits and 0 companies founded. Crunchbase's live profile now shows 18 investments and 15 portfolio companies, so counts differ by snapshot and by source. PitchBook also lists 18 investments and 15 portfolio companies, and it records 2 exits, which differs from Crunchbase.
Tracxn dates her first recorded startup investment to 2021, in Waabi, and also lists Cohere and Twelve Labs. Her most recent rounds on Crunchbase and PitchBook include Simile, Emerald AI and Doctronic, followed by Generalist AI. Crunchbase also records an Obin AI round.
Crunchbase records 13 AI investments since 2023. The AI portfolio includes Preference Model, Delphina, Yutori, Resolve.ai, Generalist AI, Trajectory, Runta, Coactive AI, Simile, Emerald AI and Doctronic.
In March 2025 she was one of the angels in Yutori's $15M seed round. Radical Ventures led that round and Felicis took part. Other angels included Jeff Dean, Elad Gil and Sarah Guo. Yutori builds personal AI assistants that handle digital tasks. NFX Signal lists her in Simile's Series A and Doctronic's Series A, both of which it records as announced in 2025 or 2026. It also lists her in Emerald AI's seed round and Generalist AI's Series B. Check the announcements for exact dates and amounts before you cite them.
The public record shows a focus on AI companies. Her deals include AI agents, robotics, AI for healthcare, AI infrastructure and enterprise applications. NFX Signal tags her activity across pre-seed, seed and Series A in AI, robotics, health IT, digital health, education and deep tech. Tracxn shows investments in the United States and Canada.
She has not published a check size or investment thesis that we found. NFX Signal, a third-party profile, shows an investment range of $100K to $5.0M with a $1.5M sweet spot. Treat that as an estimate and not as a statement from her.
Crunchbase records 0 lead investments. In the rounds we found, she took part alongside other investors and did not lead. Her own research interests, which include computer vision, robotic learning and AI in healthcare, overlap with several of her investments.
- Yutori: builds personal AI assistants that automate web tasks. She joined its $15M seed round in March 2025.
- Generalist AI: robotics AI company. Crunchbase lists her in its Series B.
- Simile: AI company on Crunchbase's list of her AI investments. NFX Signal lists her in its Series A.
- Doctronic: AI healthcare company. Crunchbase lists her in a 2025 round.
- Emerald AI: on Crunchbase's AI list, with an NFX Signal entry for a seed round.
- Delphina: on Crunchbase's list of her AI investments.
- Resolve.ai: on Crunchbase's list and also named by Tracxn.
- Coactive AI: Crunchbase lists her in its seed and Series A rounds.
- Preference Model, Trajectory and Runta: on Crunchbase's list of her AI investments.
- Cohere, Twelve Labs and Waabi: earlier investments listed by Tracxn.
- crunchbase.com/person/fei-fei-li
- crunchbase.com/person/bc318611-23a1-f3ff-2b4c-9fba3686e5bb
- crunchbase.com/person/fei-fei-li/person_overview_investor/timeline
- pitchbook.com/profiles/investor/229512-97
- signal.nfx.com/investors/fei-fei-li
- tracxn.com/d/people/fei-fei-li/__rpzFb0_HmcRJcLbwkN_QpHTRFzruaUkUQANmr
- profiles.stanford.edu/fei-fei-li
- profiles.stanford.edu/15052
AI portfolio
Investing activity
Fei-Fei Li has made 14 investments according to Crunchbase. 13 of those investments since 2023 were in AI companies, including Preference Model, Delphina, Yutori, Resolve.ai and Generalist AI.
Fei-Fei Li appears in 3 AI deals tracked by the Lounge deals desk, rounds totalling $51M. The rounds are mostly Seed, with a median round size of $16M and the largest at $20M. The most recent are Preference Model (Seed, $16M, Oct 2026), Runta (Seed, $20M, Jul 2026) and Trajectory (Seed, $15M, May 2026).
Fei-Fei Li most often invests alongside Andreessen Horowitz, Jeffrey Dean, South Park Commons and Ian Goodfellow, and the companies they back on Lounge are mostly in AI.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Fei-Fei Li
Does Fei-Fei Li angel invest in AI startups?
Yes. Crunchbase records 13 AI investments since 2023, including Yutori, Delphina, Resolve.ai, Generalist AI and Simile.
What is Fei-Fei Li's check size?
She has not published one that we found. NFX Signal, a third-party profile, lists a $100K to $5.0M range with a $1.5M sweet spot, which is an estimate.
Does Fei-Fei Li lead rounds?
Crunchbase shows 0 lead investments. In the rounds we found, such as Yutori's seed, she took part alongside other investors.
What stage does Fei-Fei Li invest in?
NFX Signal tags her activity from pre-seed to Series A. Her recorded deals include Yutori's seed and later rounds at Simile and Generalist AI.
Who is Fei-Fei Li?
She is a Stanford professor, a founding co-director of Stanford HAI and the co-founder and CEO of World Labs. She is also a former Google Cloud Chief Scientist of AI/ML.
How should founders approach Fei-Fei Li for investment?
She has not published a pitch process that we found. Founders usually reach angels through warm introductions or through co-investors, and her LinkedIn profile is linked on this page.
Is Fei-Fei Li an angel investor?
Yes. Fei-Fei Li invests personally as an angel. Crunchbase counts 14 investments.
What AI companies has Fei-Fei Li invested in?
Fei-Fei Li's AI investments include Preference Model, Delphina, Yutori, Resolve.ai, Generalist AI, Trajectory, Runta and Coactive AI. The 3 rounds on Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
Where is Fei-Fei Li based?
Fei-Fei Li is based in Stanford, United States.
What stage does Fei-Fei Li invest at?
In the rounds tracked on Lounge, Fei-Fei Li has invested at Seed, with a median round of $16M.