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About
Daniel Gross sold his startup Cue to Apple, became Y Combinator's first AI-focused partner, and founded the talent accelerator Pioneer before co-founding Safe Superintelligence with Ilya Sutskever in 2024. He invested alongside Nat Friedman through their fund NFDG until July 2025, when he left SSI to join Meta Superintelligence Labs.
Contact· published on Daniel's own website
Invests in
AI & Machine LearningCrypto & Web3Deep TechDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareFintechSector Agnostic
Beyond investing
- Founded
- Cofounded Safe Superintelligence Inc, which is building a safe superintelligence. Cofounded Cue, a search engine acquired by Apple in 2013. Gross founded Greplin, a personal search engine, which he pitched to Y Combinator's Winter 2010 batch. Gross founded the search engine Cue, which was acquired by Apple in 2013. Gross launched the remote-first accelerator Pioneer in August 2018 with backing from Marc Andreessen and Stripe. Gross co-founded Safe Superintelligence alongside Ilya Sutskever.
- Education
- Studied at Horev yeshiva Studied at Eli pre-military academy
- Family
- Gross was born in Jerusalem in 1991 to American parents who had emigrated to Israel, and was raised in an Orthodox Jewish household in the Katamon neighborhood.
- More
- Started the AI program at Y-Combinator as a Partner. Often invests in early stage companies alongside Nat Friedman. Gross created the YC AI vertical track at Y Combinator in March 2017 to provide specialized support for AI startups.
From Daniel's own website — common ground for a warm intro.
Investments
Investor
AirtableAntimetalAssemblyAIAtlasAtmosBasisBluedotBrightBuildshipCharacter.aiChromaCofactory AICoinbaseComposite Sciences, Inc.ConsensusCoreWeaveCreatify AICruiseCruiseDayDreamDeelDeepnoteDescriptEcho LabsElevenLabsEmbarkEmbark TruckEspresso AIEvolutionaryScaleFiboFigmaForwardFreedGitHubGranolaGrid StatusGroqGustoHubbleHume AIIvoJUMP BikesKeen TechnologiesLatticeLexicaLoomMagicMaticMatXMechanizeMedallionNewLimitNotionOpendoorPerplexityPikaPincitesPolyworkPortola PharmaceuticalsPrefectPulseRain IndustriesRetoolReworkdRipplingRowySafe SuperintelligenceShapesSlopedSocketSoraStreamlitSunosync.labsThe Bot CompanyTriplebyteUberViktorWeights & BiasesWindsor.ioWithinZendarZeta Labs
Per curated public sources.
Podcasts & interviews
featuring Daniel GrossDaniel Gross and Nat Friedman: Acquired by Meta | Microsoft Layoff 9000 People | OpenAI's Bombshell
20VC with Harry Stebbings
How Apple Builds Product with Daniel Gross. Tango.vc #6
Ivan Kirigin
"Startups we love right now" with Indie Hackers' Courtland Allen & Pioneer's Daniel Gross | E1162
This Week in Startups
E1079 Power of Accelerators E10: Pioneer Founder Daniel Gross on gamifying the startup process
This Week In Startups
In Conversation with Daniel Gross(Pioneer) - From 0 to 1 Scaling a Modest Project to a $20M Series A
Techsylvania
In Conversation with Daniel Gross(Pioneer) - From 0 to 1 Scaling a Modest Project to a $20M Series A
Techsylvania
6 more appearances
- Daniel Gross and Brett Berson on Breaking Down Common Startup Tropes2024-06-24
- What Daniel Gross Thinks About Basically Everything2024-06-22
- 012 - Daniel Gross (Founder of Pioneer) on the Future of Games And Opportunity Democratization2022-03-07
- Live Project Feedback with Daniel Gross | December 222020-12-23
- Pioneer founder Daniel Gross on bringing remote teams together2020-02-29
- #124 Daniel Gross- How To Win As a Startup Founder2019-04-07
Colleagues at C2 Investments
Network14
▶2 more connections
Investors connected to Daniel in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Daniel Gross?
- Daniel Gross sold his startup Cue to Apple, became Y Combinator's first AI-focused partner, and founded the talent accelerator Pioneer before co-founding Safe Superintelligence with Ilya Sutskever in 2024. He invested alongside Nat Friedman through their fund NFDG until July 2025, when he left SSI to join Meta Superintelligence Labs.
- Where does Daniel Gross work?
- Daniel Gross is Investor at C2 Investments.
- What does Daniel Gross invest in?
- Daniel Gross invests in AI & Machine Learning, Crypto & Web3, Deep Tech, Developer Tools, Enterprise Software, Fintech, Sector Agnostic.
- What companies has Daniel Gross invested in?
- Investments tracked here include Airtable, Antimetal, AssemblyAI, Atlas, Atmos, Basis, Bluedot, Bright, Buildship, Character.ai, Chroma, Cofactory AI, and 71 more.
- What podcasts and interviews feature Daniel Gross?
- Tracked appearances include "Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman: Acquired by Meta | Microsoft Layoff 9000 People | OpenAI's Bombshell", "How Apple Builds Product with Daniel Gross. Tango.vc #6", ""Startups we love right now" with Indie Hackers' Courtland Allen & Pioneer's Daniel Gross | E1162", and 9 more.
About this profile. Compiled from public sources — C2 Investments's own website, press coverage and public professional profiles — and summarised by Fundraising Fox; every fact is kept with where it came from. Spotted an error, or would rather not be listed? Email privacy@fundraisingfox.com · How we build profiles · Your rights