Jonathan Frankle
About Jonathan Frankle
Jonathan Frankle is Chief AI Scientist at Databricks, where he leads the research team on AI and reinforcement learning for enterprise customers. He joined Databricks through its $1.3B acquisition of MosaicML, which he co-founded and where he was Chief Scientist.
He earned a PhD in AI at MIT and a BSE and MSE in computer science at Princeton. At MIT he worked with Michael Carbin, and in 2021 the two co-founded MosaicML as a CSAIL spinout focused on making large model training cheaper and more accessible. His Lottery Ticket Hypothesis work won best paper at ICLR 2019, and his MIT dissertation received the 2023 AAAI/ACM SIGAI Doctoral Dissertation Award.
He has also been a student researcher at Facebook AI Research and spent a summer at Google Brain. He is listed as a Venture Partner on the Inspired Capital team page and as a research advisor at the Laude Institute.
Crunchbase lists four personal investments: Standard Kernel, Guide Labs, Patronus AI and DatologyAI. He has also posted publicly about investing as an angel in Guide Labs and in Olira. Guide Labs announced a $9M seed led by Initialized Capital, and Olira announced $2.1M in funding.
He is not a fund manager and no fund size is public. He is usually named among the angels in a round, not as lead.
His recent rounds on the Lounge deals desk are Pathway (Seed, $30M, August 2026) and Standard Kernel (Seed, $20M, March 2026). Standard Kernel builds AI systems that generate optimized GPU software. Its seed was led by Jump Capital, with Frankle among the named angels and strategic investors.
His other AI investments are Guide Labs, which builds interpretable large language models, plus DatologyAI and Patronus AI. Olira applies AI to outpatient care.
The public record shows a clear lean toward early-stage AI companies, mainly seed rounds plus one Series A listed on Crunchbase. Most are technical AI infrastructure and model companies: GPU software, data curation, interpretability and evaluation. Olira is a healthcare exception. His public commentary centers on enterprise AI adoption, efficiency in model training and evaluation. Check size and any stated investment criteria are not public.
- Standard Kernel: AI systems that generate optimized GPU kernels; $20M seed led by Jump Capital, announced March 2026.
- Pathway: $30M seed, August 2026, per the Lounge deals desk.
- Guide Labs: builds interpretable LLMs; $9M seed led by Initialized Capital, 2025.
- DatologyAI: seed round, listed on Crunchbase; investment year not confirmed.
- Patronus AI: Series A, listed on Crunchbase; investment year not confirmed.
- Olira: AI-native outpatient care platform; announced $2.1M in funding, with Frankle as an angel.
- oecd.ai/en/community/jonathan-frankle
- csail.mit.edu/news/jonathan-frankle-phd-23-earns-aaaiacm-sigai-doctora
- crunchbase.com/person/jonathan-frankle
- askforfunding.com/investor/jonathan-frankle-angel-investor
- inspiredcapital.com/team-member/jonathan-frankle
- laude.org/impact/jonathan-frankle
- prnewswire.com/news-releases/standard-kernel-raises-20m-seed-round-to-
- linkedin.com/posts/jfrankle_im-a-very-proud-phd-officemate-and-angel-a
Investing activity
Jonathan Frankle appears in 2 AI deals tracked by the Lounge deals desk, rounds totalling $50M. The rounds are mostly Seed, with a median round size of $30M. The most recent are Pathway (Seed, $30M, Aug 2026) and Standard Kernel (Seed, $20M, Mar 2026).
Jonathan Frankle most often invests alongside WS Investments, Red Bridge Ventures, Kadmos Capital and Id4 ventures, and the companies they back on Lounge are mostly in AI.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Jonathan Frankle
Is Jonathan Frankle an angel investor?
Yes. Crunchbase lists four personal investments, and he has posted publicly about backing Guide Labs and Olira as an angel. He is also named among the angels in Standard Kernel's seed round.
What stage does Jonathan Frankle invest in?
His known AI investments are mostly seed rounds, such as Standard Kernel, Guide Labs, DatologyAI and Pathway. Crunchbase also lists a Series A in Patronus AI.
What is Jonathan Frankle's typical check size?
It is not public. The round sizes above are the totals raised, not his individual checks.
What does Jonathan Frankle know about AI startups?
He co-founded MosaicML, which Databricks acquired for $1.3B, and now leads AI research at Databricks. His research covers neural network efficiency and the Lottery Ticket Hypothesis.
How can founders contact Jonathan Frankle?
He is on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/jfrankle and on X as @jefrankle. His personal site is jfrankle.com. A warm introduction through a shared investor or co-founder is the most common route.
What AI companies has Jonathan Frankle invested in?
Jonathan Frankle's AI investments include Pathway and Standard Kernel. The 2 rounds on Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
What stage does Jonathan Frankle invest at?
In the rounds tracked on Lounge, Jonathan Frankle has invested at Seed, with a median round of $30M.
Who does Jonathan Frankle co-invest with?
Jonathan Frankle's most frequent co-investors on Lounge are WS Investments (1 deal), Red Bridge Ventures (1 deal), Kadmos Capital (1 deal), Id4 ventures (1 deal) and TQ Ventures (1 deal).
How can founders reach Jonathan Frankle?
Founders on Lounge can see Jonathan Frankle's contact details in AI Investor Contacts (paid plans), check for a warm introduction through members who worked with them under Warm Paths, and add Jonathan Frankle to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.