Yash Patil
Yash Patil is the co-founder and CEO of the artificial intelligence company Applied Compute, which helps businesses train, deploy and continuously improve models they own; he previously worked at OpenAI on efforts including the coding agent Codex.
Contents8 sections
Key facts
Before 2025Work at OpenAI
According to ForbesForbesForbes is an American business media brand that began with Forbes magazine, founded by B.C. Forbes in 1917. It is known for rankings such as the Forbes 400, the World’s Billionaires list and 30 Under 30, and operates Forbes.com, ForbesLive events and licensed editions in 81 countries. Since 2014 a majority stake has been held by the Hong Kong investment group Integrated Whale Media; a 2021 plan to list on the New York Stock Exchange through a special purpose acquisition company was terminated in 2022. It is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey.Open the full entry, he grew up in Austin and met his future co-founders Rhythm GargRhythm GargRhythm Garg is an artificial intelligence researcher and entrepreneur who worked on reasoning models at OpenAI and was listed as a core contributor to the o1 model, and who later co-founded Applied Compute, an AI company that helps businesses train and improve models they own, with Yash Patil and Linden Li.Open the full entry and Linden LiLinden LiLinden Li is a machine learning systems engineer and entrepreneur who worked at OpenAI on machine learning systems and infrastructure for reinforcement learning training, and later co-founded Applied Compute, an AI company that trains and deploys specialized models for enterprises, with Yash Patil and Rhythm Garg.Open the full entry at Stanford; he joined OpenAI at age 20 through its residency program, working on post-training infrastructure and what would become Codex, and referred Garg to OpenAI.[1]
Applied Compute’s founding team post says he was a key member of the agentic software engineer effort, Codex, at OpenAI.[2]
2025Leaving OpenAI to Found Applied Compute
According to Forbes, about five months after the launch of DeepSeek R1, he, Garg and Li left OpenAI to found Applied Compute, which raised a $20 million seed round in June 2025.[1]
October 29, 2025Applied Compute Comes Out of Stealth
On October 29, 2025, the three co-founders published a bylined post introducing Applied Compute, saying the company had raised $80 million from investors including Benchmark, Sequoia, Lux and Elad Gil.[2]
April 8, 2026New $80 Million Financing
On April 8, 2026, the three co-founders announced that Applied Compute had raised $80 million led by Kleiner Perkins at a $1.3 billion post-money valuation, bringing total funding to $160 million.[3]
September 2026Reported Funding Talks
Forbes reported in September 2026 that Applied Compute was in talks to raise $350 million at a $3.25 billion valuation; the company said some figures could change before the round closes.[1]
As of October 2026: CEO of Applied Compute
Applied Compute’s website identifies him as the company’s CEO and features his fireside chat with Microsoft CEO Satya NadellaSatya NadellaSatya Nadella is a business executive who serves as chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft; his leadership career spans cloud computing, developer platforms, corporate acquisitions, and artificial intelligence.Open the full entry; the site describes the company’s business as AC2, a platform for training, serving and continuously improving open models.[4]
Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts
Applied Compute: Official website: https://www.appliedcompute.com/ (opens in a new window)[4]
Applied Compute: Official account: https://x.com/appliedcompute (opens in a new window)[4]