Ruslan Salakhutdinov
About Ruslan Salakhutdinov
Ruslan "Russ" Salakhutdinov is a researcher in deep learning and machine learning. He received his PhD in machine learning from the University of Toronto in 2009 under Geoffrey Hinton. He is now UPMC Professor of Computer Science in the Machine Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon University.
In 2016 he joined Apple as its first director of AI research, while on leave from Carnegie Mellon. Wikipedia and The Information report that he left Apple in 2020 and returned to Carnegie Mellon.
He has other advisory roles. Creative Destruction Lab lists him as a mentor at its Toronto site in the Artificial Intelligence stream. In June 2023 Felix Smart, a company that uses AI to care for plants and animals, appointed him to its board of directors.
Little of his angel activity is public. The only dated angel investment we could confirm is his participation in NeoCognition's seed round in April 2026. We found no public fund, syndicate or disclosed check sizes.
NeoCognition emerged from stealth in April 2026 with a $40M seed round. The company is a Palo Alto research lab building AI agents that learn on the job and specialize, rather than relying only on pre-training. It was co-founded by Yu Su, Xiang Deng and Yu Gu, who come from Ohio State University.
Cambium Capital and Walden Catalyst Ventures co-led the round, and Vista Equity Partners took part. The announcement lists Salakhutdinov among angel investors and founding advisors, alongside AI researchers Dawn Song and Luke Zettlemoyer, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan and Databricks co-founder Ion Stoica.
The one confirmed investment is in AI agents, which fits his research on multimodal agents that plan and act on the web. He has not publicly stated a preferred stage, geography or check size, and he has not published an investment thesis. His one confirmed investment was at seed stage, with a founding team that came from academic AI research.
- NeoCognition: research lab building self-learning AI agents that specialize through experience. He joined the $40M seed round announced in April 2026 as an angel investor and founding advisor.
- thenextweb.com/news/neocognition-40m-seed-self-learning-ai-agents
- prnewswire.com/news-releases/neocognition-emerges-from-stealth-with-40
- finsmes.com/2026/04/neocognition-raises-40m-in-seed-funding.html
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruslan_Salakhutdinov
- theinformation.com/briefings/d25b6f
- technologyreview.com/2016/10/17/244581/apple-gets-its-first-director-o
- creativedestructionlab.com/mentors/ruslan-salakhutdinov
- crunchbase.com/organization/ruslan-2/news_and_analysis
Investing activity
Ruslan Salakhutdinov appears in 1 AI deal tracked by the Lounge deals desk, rounds totalling $40M. The rounds are mostly Seed, with a median round size of $40M. The most recent is NeoCognition (Seed, $40M, Apr 2026).
Ruslan Salakhutdinov most often invests alongside Walden Catalyst Ventures, Cambium Capital Partners, Cambium Capital and Dawn Song, and the companies they back on Lounge are mostly in AI.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Ruslan Salakhutdinov
Is Ruslan Salakhutdinov an angel investor in AI startups?
Yes. He is named as an angel investor and founding advisor in NeoCognition's $40M seed round, announced in April 2026. We found no other dated angel investments.
What did Ruslan Salakhutdinov invest in?
The confirmed investment is NeoCognition, a Palo Alto lab building self-learning AI agents. He is also on the board of Felix Smart, which uses AI for plant and pet care, but that is a board role and we found no investment.
What is Ruslan Salakhutdinov's check size?
His check size is not public, and we found no statement from him on it. NeoCognition's announcement gave the round total but not individual angel amounts.
Who is Ruslan Salakhutdinov?
He is a UPMC Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University and a student of Geoffrey Hinton. He was Apple's first director of AI research from 2016 to 2020.
Should founders pitch Ruslan Salakhutdinov?
His one confirmed investment suggests he backs technical AI teams with a research background. He has not published an investment thesis, so check his current interests before approaching him. His public work centers on deep learning and multimodal AI agents.
Is Ruslan Salakhutdinov an angel investor?
Yes. Ruslan Salakhutdinov invests personally as an angel.
What AI companies has Ruslan Salakhutdinov invested in?
Ruslan Salakhutdinov's AI investments include NeoCognition. The 1 round on Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
What stage does Ruslan Salakhutdinov invest at?
In the rounds tracked on Lounge, Ruslan Salakhutdinov has invested at Seed, with a median round of $40M.
Who does Ruslan Salakhutdinov co-invest with?
Ruslan Salakhutdinov's most frequent co-investors on Lounge are Walden Catalyst Ventures (1 deal), Cambium Capital Partners (1 deal), Cambium Capital (1 deal), Dawn Song (1 deal) and Ion Stoica (1 deal).
How can founders reach Ruslan Salakhutdinov?
Founders on Lounge can see Ruslan Salakhutdinov'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 Ruslan Salakhutdinov to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.