Causal Labs, an AI company pioneering physics-based models to address civilization-scale challenges, announced it has raised $6 million in seed funding, led by Kindred Ventures with participation from Refactor, BoxGroup, Factorial, Otherwise, Karman Ventures, and a select group of angel investors.
Causal Labs plans to use the funding to expand its team, develop the initial model further, including safety and transparency mechanisms, and initiate pilot programs across critical industries.
Causal Labs is rethinking how we understand and respond to weather. And unlike existing approaches, which rely on expensive supercomputers that are slow to produce timely forecasts, Causal Labs uses AI physics models to simulate how the atmosphere will behave to create more accurate forecast predictions in minutes.
More than just forecasting, this model redefines how weather-related decisions are made—whether through direct interventions in atmospheric conditions or operational responses to climate risks. And the model will provide the tools needed to anticipate and respond to the increasing threats posed by climate change, including extreme weather events and natural disasters.
Beyond the weather, Causal Labs is building towards a general, large-scale physics foundation model. At its core, the model understands cause-and-effect relationships in physical domains to determine the optimal course of action. And by encoding physics-driven decision-making at scale, the model represents a step toward predicting and shaping real-world dynamics with unparalleled accuracy.
Causal Labs plans to generalize this approach beyond atmospheric physics, applying it to domains such as aviation, agriculture, energy, space, climate change, and government that rely on physics simulations. This will ultimately create a versatile AI system for tackling complex, physics-based challenges across industries.
Causal Labs was created by Kelsie Zhao and Dar Mehta, experts in building safety-critical, multi-modal AI models. Kelsie is a self-driving car veteran who built foundational components of Cruise’s core self-driving stack, while Dar has worked across Google Research, Meta, Cruise, and a YC-backed robotics startup. And as Stanford and Waterloo graduates with extensive experience leading technical teams, they bring a proven track record of applying AI to solve complex, physics-driven challenges.
KEY QUOTES:
“Our model will be informed by the laws of physics, opening a world of possibilities for future use cases in the physical world. We see a unique opportunity to shift the current paradigm of AI research from LLMs to physics-based models, beginning with weather—a critical and universal challenge that touches every individual, business, and community.”
- Dar Mehta, co-founder and CEO of Causal Labs
“Causal Labs’ AI-driven physics model research represents a major leap forward in decision-making technology in the real world. We’re thrilled to support their mission to transform how industries operate and thrive with greater intelligence and autonomy in the face of complex, physics-based challenges across many industries and regions around the planet.”
- Steve Jang of Kindred Ventures
