Announcing MultiOn: Building a Brighter Future for Humanity with AI Agents
In the ever-evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, there's a new force that will transform our lives like never before–MultiOn. A pioneering AI startup aiming to develop AI products and technologies that once only belonged in science fiction, MultiOn is an AI Agent that takes actions and interacts with the digital world to tackle mundane tasks that people would rather delegate to an assistant. MultiOn frees up the human race from the mundane boring but necessary tasks that would take hours or days to accomplish, so we can more fully enjoy and live our lives. MultiOn will book your dream travel itinerary in minutes or reserve a table for six with your best friends at your favorite restaurant and confirm the best date and time for everyone in just minutes. What used to take hours or even not be possible to do, is now handled by MultiOn in a matter of minutes.
MultiOn is the brainchild of two visionary Stanford founders, Div Garg and Omar Shaya who wanted to solve their own personal pain points that have long plagued them. Div was working three demanding jobs simultaneously – lecturing at Stanford, working at a robotics startup, and running his own side project. He wanted software that could take over boring, repetitive tasks to enable him to focus on more meaningful and creative work.
Similarly Omar, a globetrotter pursuing his tech and entrepreneurship goals, from Damascus to Berlin to London to Palo Alto, always thought that technology could do more to help him settle in new places, all the while providing the support system that friends and family would otherwise provide in one’s hometown. After a few years building large-scale AI products at Microsoft and Meta, he knew that he needed to build a new type of personal AI agent.
“Once we met Div and Omar, we knew we found the right brilliant technical product founders with the talent and passion to bring this massive new vision to the world. I’m feeling the same excitement as I did when I invested in Zoom’s first round." – Jim Scheinman, Founding Managing Partner, Maven Ventures
Motivated by their common pain points and interests, Div and Omar met in a Stanford AI class in 2022 and decided to combine forces to bring to life this new vision of a personal AI agent that will help themselves and billions of people live a more fulfilling life.
When they met, Div was pursuing his PhD in AI from Stanford University and decided to drop out to start MultiOn. At Stanford, his research focused on Large Language Models (LLMs) and Reinforcement Learning, applying them to projects like AI Agents capable of winning top prizes in video game competitions, robots that could be controlled using language, and state-of-the-art autonomous driving systems with wide media coverage. He has dedicated his career to building autonomous AI systems and left his mark at tech giants like Apple, Google, and Nvidia.
At the time they met, Omar was at Stanford Business school (GSB) with the goal of launching a new personal AI agent startup. With a deep background in computer science and consumer products, before Stanford GSB, he had a unique blend of experiences, leading teams building consumer AI products at Microsoft and later at Meta. His insights into ranking and personalization algorithms for platforms like Instagram and Facebook, as well as productivity AI Assistant experiences at Microsoft, layed much of the foundation to his unique product vision for MultiOn.
Together, the founders hold multiple patents in AI-related fields.
The company’s mission is to unlock and elevate human agency for everyone, freeing us up from the drudgery of daily boring tasks to focus on doing what we love. The vision is not of machines replacing humans but augmenting them. Through AI Agents, the team aims to amplify the human potential, allowing individuals to truly focus on what they love. With their AI products, MultiOn aspires to unlock parallelization for humanity: Imagine a world where tasks are conducted concurrently, no longer bound by the linear constraints of time of a single person.
The team envisions a world where personal AI assistants aren't a luxury for the elite but a norm for all. Dreams of a JARVIS-like entity or the profound connections seen in "HER" are no longer confined to the silver screen. The company is on a mission to transform this sci-fi into reality, ushering in an era of AI that doesn't just chat but acts.
“As soon as ChatGPT launched, we started looking for the best team that shared our vision of a world where AI agents could do those boring daily tasks freeing us up to enjoy life,” says Jim Scheinman, Founding Managing Partner at Maven Ventures. “Once we met Div and Omar, we knew we found the right brilliant technical product founders with the talent and passion to bring this massive new vision to the world. I’m feeling the same excitement as I did when I invested in Zoom’s first round.”
A group of passionate innovators, technologists, designers, and dreamers, the MultiOn team is embarking on a transformative journey with backing from major industry players led by General Catalyst, with participation from Amazon Alexa Fund, Samsung Next, Maven Ventures, Albert P. Lee, individuals from OpenAI, early backers of DeepMind, and more.
"The early consumer product demo made us dream about the future we all want to be part of" – Niko Bonatsos, Managing Director, and Max Rimpel, Partner, General Catalyst
In recent months, MultiOn teased its demos and gave a glimpse of what's possible. There was an overwhelmingly positive reception and support from the community. Tens of thousands of people signed up to the waitlist to get access to the product. MultiOn, for the first time, showcased an AI agent capable of booking flights, ordering food on Doordash, and making restaurant reservations.
“The early consumer product demo made us dream about the future we all want to be part of, where MultiOn’s technology is automagically streamlining cumbersome workflows with AI,” said Niko Bonatsos, Managing Director at General Catalyst and Max Rimpel, Partner at General Catalyst. “We are impressed by the deep technical expertise of Div and Omar, and look forward to supporting the team in their ambitious goal of reinventing how consumers and businesses interact with the digital world.”
“MultiOn is on the forefront of redefining the era of AI” – Paul Bernard, director of Amazon Alexa Fund
The team has also developed a leading AI Agent platform that enables developers around the globe to dream up and build their own AI agents or embed them into their existing apps or sites. Developers are taking notice, and there is an impressive surge of creativity in building on top of MultiOn's Agent technology.
“MultiOn is on the forefront of redefining the era of AI,” said Paul Bernard, director of the Amazon Alexa Fund. “MultiOn’s AI Agent is impressive with its ability to connect with virtually any device or interface on the internet. We’re proud to be an investor in MultiOn and fully support their mission of simplifying customers’ lives through AI Agents.”
As an Alexa Fund portfolio company, MultiOn will be running a demo of its browser experience in the Amazon Experience Area at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
Join us, as we redraw the contours of AI and redefine the future. Welcome to the MultiOn era.