A global nonprofit incubator that helps founders launch and scale AI safety, security, and resilience organizations by providing mentorship, co-founder matching, and access to seed funding networks.
A global nonprofit incubator that helps founders launch and scale AI safety, security, and resilience organizations by providing mentorship, co-founder matching, and access to seed funding networks.
People
Updated 05/18/26Funding Details
Updated 05/18/26- Annual Budget
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Org Details
Updated 05/18/26Catalyze Impact is a 501(c)(3) public charity incorporated in Colorado that serves as the global incubator for AI safety founders. The organization was founded by Alexandra Bos after she conducted prioritization research on high-impact interventions in the AI safety space, identifying a key bottleneck: the shortage of talented founders building needed safety organizations. Alexandra Bos began developing Catalyze in 2023, recruiting co-founder Kay Kozaronek, a self-taught generalist with a background in business consulting and technical AI safety research (formerly at SERI MATS and co-founder of Cadenza Labs). Mick Zijdel joined as the first employee, co-running the incubation program and handling recruitment, selection, program design, logistics, and participant support. The flagship offering is a multi-month incubation program that provides customized one-on-one support including strategy and direction setting, co-founder matching, expert access through private office hours and Q&As with leaders from organizations like Epoch AI, Apollo Research, and Goodfire, and access to seed funding. The Winter 2024/25 pilot program, based in London at the LISA (London Initiative for Safe AI) offices, received over 200 applications and successfully incubated 11 new AI safety organizations. Participants reported that the program either enabled the founding of their organization or accelerated their progress by an average of 11 months. The 11 organizations from the pilot cohort work across a broad range of AI safety challenges including alignment, governance, hardware security, long-term behavior monitoring, and control mechanisms. Notable incubated organizations include Luthien (AI control solutions), TamperSec (hardware security for AI systems), Coordinal (safe AI deployment research), Aintelope (biologically-inspired alignment), and Wiser Human (AI control threat modeling). To date, Catalyze has incubated approximately 15 AI safety organizations, with the majority having raised six or seven figures in funding from funders such as Open Philanthropy, the Survival and Flourishing Fund, and the AI Safety Tactical Opportunities Fund. In addition to the incubation program, Catalyze operates two funding networks: the Catalyze Investor Network, which connects pre-seed AI safety startups with VCs and angel investors, and the Seed Funding Circle, which channels donations of $50K-$300K to non-profit AI safety research organizations. Both networks run pitch rounds roughly twice yearly. Starting in 2026, Catalyze plans to scale to multiple incubation programs per year, each targeting critical gaps in the AI safety ecosystem.
Theory of Change
Updated 05/18/26Catalyze Impact's theory of change centers on addressing what they identify as a critical bottleneck in the AI safety field: the shortage of founders building organizations to work on AI safety and security. Despite growing awareness of AI risks among researchers and industry leaders, the AI safety field remains remarkably small relative to the scale of the challenge. By incubating new organizations and connecting founders with co-founders, expert mentorship, and early-stage funding, Catalyze aims to rapidly expand the number and quality of organizations working to reduce catastrophic AI risk. Their approach creates a multiplier effect: rather than doing safety research directly, they enable many new organizations to form, each pursuing different approaches to AI safety across alignment, governance, hardware security, and control, thereby diversifying the field's portfolio of solutions.
Grants Received
Updated 05/18/26Projects
Updated 05/18/26
A selective multi-phase program run by Catalyze Impact that helps prospective founders of technical AI safety research organizations test co-founder fit, access mentorship from experienced advisors, connect with seed funding opportunities, and build their organizations through an online phase followed by an in-person incubation phase.
A pair of seed funding networks run by Catalyze Impact—a non-profit Seed Funding Circle for donors with roughly $15k+ annual giving capacity and an Investor Network for VCs and angels with roughly $20k+ annual investment capacity—that provide $50k–$300k early-stage funding rounds to new AI safety organizations, primarily those incubated through Catalyze’s programs.
Discussion
Key risk: Counterfactual impact is uncertain—several pilot orgs likely would have formed and been funded by OP/SFF regardless—and with a small, early-stage team planning to scale to multiple cohorts, maintaining rigorous selection and high-value mentorship poses a real execution risk.
Case for funding: By systematically incubating AI safety orgs and bridging them to capital via its Investor Network and Seed Funding Circle, Catalyze has already catalyzed approximately 15 teams (e.g., Luthien, TamperSec, Coordinal) with alumni raising six–seven figures and reporting ~11 months acceleration, making it a high-leverage multiplier across alignment, governance, and hardware security.