Former Nvidia Research Chief Launches Veeda AI with $90 Million in Seed Funding

Sanja Fidler, who served as vice president of AI research at Nvidia, launched a new company called Veeda AI in August 2026 after raising more than $90 million in seed funding.

Veeda AI focuses on robotics and physical-world simulation, an area that researchers and investors are calling physical AI. The company aims to build systems that can understand and interact with the physical environment, going beyond the text and image processing that has defined most AI development in recent years.

Fidler built her reputation at Nvidia leading research into computer vision and simulation. Her work there contributed to tools used in autonomous vehicles, robotics, and game development. She left Nvidia to start Veeda AI, taking the seed funding from investors who see physical AI as the next major frontier in the field.

The launch comes as several major technology companies are investing heavily in robotics and physical AI. The sector has attracted attention from investors who believe that AI systems capable of operating in the real world will be as significant as the large language models that have dominated headlines since 2022.

Veeda AI has not disclosed its full investor list, but the $90 million seed round is one of the larger early-stage raises in the physical AI space. The company plans to use the funding to build its team and develop its core simulation and robotics technology.

Fidler said Veeda AI's goal is to create AI that can reason about and act in physical spaces, not just generate content. The company is hiring researchers and engineers with backgrounds in robotics, computer vision, and simulation.