AI NewsThe founder who left Google and secured a $300M pre-seed valuation in months

The founder who left Google and secured a $300M pre-seed valuation in months

12:43 AM IST · July 17, 2026

Loading the player… Building an AI startup is one thing. Raising one of the largest seed rounds of the year before launching a product is something else entirely. In this episode ofBuild Mode, host and Startup Battlefield lead Isabelle Johannessen sits down with Andrew Dai, founder and CEO ofElorianand former Google DeepMind researcher, to unpack how his company raised a $55 million seed round at a $300 million valuation before generating revenue or releasing a product. Andrew shares what investors saw in Elorian’s vision for visual AI, how he approached fundraising after leaving Google DeepMind, and why choosing the right investors mattered more than maximizing valuation. He also offers practical advice for founders building in AI, explains why today’s fundraising environment rewards clear storytelling over technical jargon, and shares what surprised him most as a first-time founder. They get into: Subscribe to Build Mode on⁠Apple Podcasts⁠,⁠Spotify⁠, or⁠wherever you like to listen⁠. And watch the full videos on⁠YouTube⁠. New episodes of ⁠Build Mode⁠drop every Thursday.