OpenAI’s Converge 2 program has been shrouded in mystery
For months, a tech forum ran wild asking if the Converge 2 accelerator program actually happened.
Last December, OpenAI announced it was opening applications for its second cohort of a six-week accelerator program it had kicked off in 2022. Then things grew very quiet. But OpenAI’s Converge 2 startup accelerator program did indeed take place, according to two sources familiar with the program. TechCrunch also confirmed that the Open AI Startup Fund has funded startups in the cohort.
Converge 2, as that second accelerator program was called, has been an odd exception to what is normally a mundane bit of PR in the tech industry. Typically an accelerator program announces the startups accepted into, or graduated from, its programs. After all, once it invests, it has every reason to boost those startups’ chances for success with its public stamp of approval.
But for months, a tech forum ran wild, asking if Converge 2 accelerator program actually happened. Nobody on that forum, which included people who said they applied, heard anything. No one on the forum posted about getting in or even receiving rejection notices. And others in the Valley weren’t hearing about the program either, despite how high profile OpenAI is, various sources told TechCrunch.
This silence was odd because it was not how the first program worked. OpenAI held Converge I in the typical accelerator fashion in early 2023. It called for applications and then publicly announced its first four investments from the overall OpenAI Startup Fund. In December 2023, Open AI Startup Fund announced it would start accepting applications for the second cohort of its accelerator program, Converge 2, expected to begin in March 2024 and conclude by April.
But then, silence. There was no press release from OpenAI about the companies that earned investments. And after multiple requests for comment over months, OpenAI refused to even confirm that the program took place. Founders took to pondering online — and messaging us — about it.
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