AI House

Check the fit before you invest time

• AI House recruits from across North America and expects every incubated founder to spend at least one month in person in Seattle, working from the space daily.
• Its pages do not mention India and do not bar founders based in India. If you are outside North America, decide whether you can meet the Seattle requirement before you apply.

Choose the right route

• AI House Incubator: for founders who want hands-on company-building support, and who accept the incubator taking equity as common stock. You can apply before you have formed a company.
• AI House Capital: for founders who already have momentum and need capital, not incubation. There is no form. Ask a mutual contact for a warm introduction to a managing director.
• Community events: open to anyone who joins through the Luma calendar. They are in person in Seattle. Going to one is not an application.

How the incubator application works

• Applications are rolling. There is no batch or cohort date, so apply when you are ready to build.
• The application is an online form that takes about 10 to 15 minutes, and your progress autosaves.
• Be ready to say you will be focused full time on the company, or actively moving to full-time work, if accepted.
• Students, employed people and professors can all apply. A formed company is not required.

What reviewers look for

• Applied AI built around real customer pain, with technical depth and durable execution. These are the qualities AI House says it looks for in the companies it backs.
• A named domain you know well. It lists enterprise, healthcare, biology, legal, logistics, aerospace, manufacturing, climate, energy, developer tools, infrastructure and public-sector technology.
• Technical founders and domain experts are both welcome. If you are one and need the other, co-founder matching is offered.
• The incubator is small and selective, with about 15 companies a year by its own count.

Things to ask about

• The cloud credits are described differently on the incubator page and in a sponsor announcement. Ask which credits you would actually receive.
• Visa support is offered through its legal and operations network. If you need it, raise it early.

AI House is a Seattle incubator and early-stage venture firm for founders building applied-AI companies. It was founded in 2014 as the AI2 Incubator, inside the Allen Institute for AI, and rebranded to AI House in June 2026. Its legal entity is AI House, Inc., and it says it is independent of the Allen Institute for AI today. The old AI2 Incubator website now redirects to the AI House site.

What AI House does

AI House has three parts. The AI House Incubator helps founders build applied-AI companies from the earliest stages, adding hands-on company-building support and capital to a founder community. AI House Capital writes pre-seed investments into applied-AI companies, some of which the incubator has helped build and some of which come from outside. The AI House Community runs public events and a Resident Experts group in Seattle.

How the incubator works

The incubator has no fixed cohort and no batch dates. Applications are rolling, and it tells founders not to wait for a cohort date. It does not run a one-size-fits-all curriculum: the work depends on the company. The incubator describes itself as small and selective, and says it does not compete on volume. Its own figure is about 15 companies a year.

Founders can join at day zero, or arrive with a team, a product, customers or early revenue. The incubator says it works with them through the first year of company-building. Its managing directors say they have helped build more than 100 AI companies over the last 20 years, and that this experience goes into every conversation with every founder.

The incubator takes equity. Its stated terms are 7% in common stock, the same class of stock that founders hold. It also makes a pre-seed investment on a SAFE, starting with an early allocation that can grow as the company reaches early milestones. Cloud credits are part of the offer, described as free and non-dilutive. A separate announcement from October 2025 names Google Cloud and JP Morgan Chase as official sponsors and partners, and says eligible incubated startups can use Google's startup programme for Google Cloud credits. The incubator page and that announcement describe the credits differently, so ask which ones apply to you.

Through its legal and operations network, the incubator says it can help founders with immigration and visa questions. It says it has directly helped more than a dozen founders get their green cards.

Who can apply

The incubator is for applied-AI companies built around real customer pain. It names these domains: enterprise, healthcare, biology, legal, logistics, aerospace, manufacturing, climate, energy, developer tools, infrastructure and public-sector technology. It welcomes technical founders and domain experts, and it offers co-founder matching for the two.

You do not need a formed company, and earlier funding does not rule you out. Students, people who are employed, and professors may apply. If accepted, founders are expected to be focused full time on the company or actively moving to full-time work.

Is it open to founders in India?

Not as a stated focus. The incubator says it works with founders from across North America. Every founder in the incubator is expected to spend at least one month in person in Seattle, working from AI House daily. None of its pages mention India, and none say that founders based in India are barred. A founder outside North America should read the programme as not aimed at them, and should weigh the Seattle requirement before applying.

AI House Capital

AI House Capital writes direct pre-seed investments into applied-AI companies. Some are companies the incubator helps build. Others are founders who already have momentum and need capital rather than incubation. It says it invests in both Seattle and non-Seattle startups, and that the companies it invests in get access to the community but not the incubation services, which are reserved for incubator companies. It invests from its third fund.

There is no application form for AI House Capital. It says it invests through relationships, so the way in is a direct connection or a warm introduction to one of its managing directors.

The community, events and Resident Experts

AI House runs a Seattle AI community with public events, listed on its Luma calendar. They include Pitch Please, where founders pitch to builders, operators and investors and get live feedback, along with Founder Showcases, Vibe Coding Sessions, Build Days, AMAs and an annual summer barbecue. The events are in person in Seattle. Its community page counts 155 events held, 15,887 attendees and 120 Resident Experts. A June 2026 article says more than 20,000 people have come through its events and programming. The two figures are measured differently and its pages do not reconcile them.

Resident Experts are operators, researchers, technical leaders, founders, executives and investors with hard-earned expertise to share, who apply through a form on the AI House site. Founders and organisations can also host events at the space by writing to the events inbox.

Where it is

AI House is in Seattle, Washington. Its coworking and event pages place it at Pier 70 on the downtown waterfront, steps from Pike Place Market and the Olympic Sculpture Park. Its privacy policy gives a legal contact address on Alaskan Way in Seattle.

Portfolio

The incubator's companies page lists about 50 portfolio companies and tags a number of them as acquired, including one acquired by Docusign. It does not state a total. Lexion, Yoodli, CalmWave and Friday Harbor appear in that list.