Two former Meta executives have raised $15 million to launch Yutori, a new AI assistant startup based in San Francisco. The company plans to build autonomous digital assistants that can perform tasks online with minimal human input.
The funding round was led by Rob Toews at Radical Ventures. Other high-profile backers include Felicis, AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, and Jeff Dean, Chief Scientist at Google DeepMind.
What Makes Yutori Different?
Unlike typical chatbots that rely on user instructions, Yutori’s assistants aim to take over entire workflows. From placing food orders to managing complex travel plans, these AI agents are built to save time.
“Chatbots today don’t really do things for you,” said co-founder Devi Parikh. “We’re rethinking how people use AI. The goal is to take tasks off your plate completely.”
Parikh led multimodal AI research at Meta. Her co-founder, Dhruv Batra, was in charge of Meta’s embodied AI efforts. He focused on developing AI systems that could operate in the 3D world.
Focus on Post-Training to Improve Reasoning
Yutori uses a method called post-training to enhance its AI models. Instead of starting from scratch, they build on pre-trained systems and fine-tune them to perform better in specific scenarios.
This approach has become increasingly important. OpenAI’s o1 and o3 models also use post-training to improve their reasoning and online navigation abilities. Yutori wants to push this further by training its agents to handle real-world internet tasks with minimal oversight.
A Team Built for AI Innovation
Yutori’s team includes some of the leading minds in AI. Alongside Parikh and Batra, the company has engineers who worked on Meta’s Llama 3 and Llama 4. These are open-source language models that power a wide range of AI tools.
With this expertise, Yutori is betting big on autonomous agents as the next frontier. Many experts in the field, including OpenAI’s CFO Sarah Friar, believe these systems will dominate the AI landscape in 2025 and beyond.
Why It Matters Now
AI assistants are moving fast from simple bots to intelligent agents. As models become more capable, users expect them to handle longer and more complex tasks.
Yutori is entering the market at the right time. With strong backing, a talented team, and a clear focus, the startup could play a key role in shaping how we interact with AI every day.
