A Secret $75M Bet on Sam Altman
Back in 2023, Fortune reported that the university's $17.9 billion endowment (now worth $21.2 billion) quietly wrote a $75 million check (later increased to $180 million by 2024) to Hydrazine Capital, which just so ahppens to be Sam Altman's personal venture firm, making the university the only outside investor in the fund. This sits on top of a $105 million check to an earlier Hydrazine fund, $18.7 million into a separate Altman family investment vehicle, and direct investments into OpenAI itself. U-M's endowment rarely writes individual VC checks over $50 million, yet for Altman, it has done it twice.
Altman was CEO of OpenAI when the check was cut. OpenAI told Fortune he "spends only a small fraction of his time investing" and maintains transparency with the board about potential conflicts. This is the same board that would later fire him, then rehire him over concerns that he "was not consistently candid" with them.
The university's's investment office described the arrangement as a "longstanding relationship with Sam." Two and a half years later, Altman showed up to break ground on a $16 billion data center in Saline Township with Governor Whitmer. Funny how relationships work I guess.
The fund's size, focus, and portfolio remain undisclosed. Altman, Hydrazine, and the university have yet to share details.