Michele Catasta
About Michele Catasta
Michele Catasta is President and Head of AI at Replit and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He joined Replit in 2023 as VP of AI. He later became President and Head of AI, and in 2024 he led the launch of Replit Agent.
Before Replit he was Head of Applied Research at Google X and Google Labs. There he worked on large language models and contributed to the coding capabilities of PaLM and PaLM 2. Earlier he was a Research Scientist and Instructor at Stanford University, working on applying Transformer models to source code. He has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from EPFL (2015) and a Master's degree from the University of Galway. He has held research positions at MIT Media Lab, Google and Yahoo Labs, and he co-founded Sindice.com.
His investing roles have included AI Advisor and Scout Investor at Bessemer Venture Partners (2022 to 2023) and AI Advisor at Coatue (2023 to 2025). Since 2025 he has been a Distinguished Fellow at Fellows Fund.
Crunchbase lists 14 personal investments for Catasta, all made since 2023. It shows 0 lead investments, 0 exits and 0 companies founded. PitchBook classifies him as an active angel investor and records 13 investments, so the two databases differ slightly.
Crunchbase's record shows his rounds are usually joined by other investors and led by someone else. For example, Raindrop's seed round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, and he is listed among 11 investors in that round. Deal sizes and his own check amounts are not public.
Crunchbase dates his recent rounds as XBOW (July 2024), Argmax (January 2025), Yutori (March 2025), Raindrop (December 2025) and QuiverAI (February 2026). PitchBook dates other deals as Resolve.ai (September 2024), EzDubs (December 2024) and Lica World (December 2024). PitchBook also lists Athena Intelligence (January 2025) and Basis (December 2024), which are not in the Crunchbase list we have.
In March 2025 he posted on X that he was one of the angel investors in Reflection AI. Its co-founders, whom he called former research collaborators, were launching it to build autonomous coding systems.
Crunchbase lists these AI investments: DeepJudge, Yutori, Resolve.ai, EzDubs, Slingshot AI, Sweep, QuiverAI, Argmax, Command Code, Raindrop, XBOW and Lica World.
Most of the rounds listed on Crunchbase are seed rounds. The sectors are AI agents, AI for code and software development, security, and applied AI products for business and design. Tracxn describes his portfolio as mostly enterprise applications and high tech, with companies in the United States and Switzerland.
His own work centers on LLMs, agents and AI for code, and several of his investments sit close to that area. He has not published a thesis, a check size range or a list of what he looks for in a pitch, so none is given here. Founders who want to reach him can use his public LinkedIn or X profiles.
- XBOW: AI security company; Crunchbase records a seed round in July 2024.
- Resolve.ai: software development and operations AI company; PitchBook dates his investment to September 2024.
- EzDubs: AI company in the business and productivity category; PitchBook dates his investment to December 2024.
- Argmax: Crunchbase records a seed round in January 2025.
- Yutori: AI company in the business and productivity category; Crunchbase records a seed round in March 2025.
- Reflection AI: autonomous coding startup that Catasta said on X in March 2025 he had angel-invested in.
- Raindrop: Crunchbase records a seed round in December 2025, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.
- QuiverAI: multimedia and design AI company; Crunchbase and PitchBook record a seed round in February 2026.
- DeepJudge, Slingshot AI, Sweep, Command Code and Lica World: other AI companies on his Crunchbase investor list.
- crunchbase.com/person/michele-catasta-6dcf
- crunchbase.com/person/michele-catasta-6dcf/person_overview_investor/ti
- crunchbase.com/funding_round/raindrop-03c9-seed--39f266df
- pitchbook.com/profiles/investor/593975-17
- tracxn.com/d/people/michele-catasta/__llOZowyEhqw1vhsq2v4c0f22uWONrwcE
- obvious.com/team/michele-catasta
- databricks.com/dataaisummit/speaker/michele-catasta
- alphaxiv.org/@michele-catasta
AI portfolio
Investing activity
Michele Catasta has made 14 investments according to Crunchbase. 14 of those investments since 2023 were in AI companies, including DeepJudge, Yutori, Resolve.ai, EzDubs and Slingshot AI.
Michele Catasta appears in 1 AI deal tracked by the Lounge deals desk. The rounds are mostly Seed, with a median round size of $8M. The most recent is QuiverAI (Seed, $8.3M, Feb 2026).
Michele Catasta most often invests alongside Andreessen Horowitz, Andrew Pouliot, Guillermo Flor and David Vazquez, and the companies they back on Lounge are mostly in AI.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Michele Catasta
Who is Michele Catasta?
He is President and Head of AI at Replit and an angel investor in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was previously Head of Applied Research at Google X and Google Labs and a Research Scientist at Stanford.
How many startups has Michele Catasta invested in?
Crunchbase lists 14 investments, all in AI and all since 2023. PitchBook lists 13, so the exact count depends on the database.
What is Michele Catasta's check size?
His check size is not public. Crunchbase and PitchBook do not show amounts for his personal investments.
What stage does Michele Catasta invest in?
The rounds recorded on Crunchbase are mostly seed rounds. He has not stated a formal stage preference. Crunchbase shows 0 lead investments, so he usually joins rounds that others lead.
Which AI startups has Michele Catasta backed?
They include XBOW, Resolve.ai, EzDubs, Argmax, Yutori, Raindrop, QuiverAI, DeepJudge, Slingshot AI, Sweep, Command Code and Lica World. He also said on X that he was an angel investor in Reflection AI.
How can founders contact Michele Catasta?
His public profiles are LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/pirroh) and X (@pirroh). He has not published a pitch process, so a short, specific note about AI agents or developer tools fits his work best.
Is Michele Catasta an angel investor?
Yes. Michele Catasta invests personally as an angel. Crunchbase counts 14 investments.
What AI companies has Michele Catasta invested in?
Michele Catasta's AI investments include DeepJudge, Yutori, Resolve.ai, EzDubs, Slingshot AI, Sweep, QuiverAI and Argmax. The 1 round on Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
Where is Michele Catasta based?
Michele Catasta is based in San Francisco Bay Area, United States.
What stage does Michele Catasta invest at?
In the rounds tracked on Lounge, Michele Catasta has invested at Seed, with a median round of $8M.