Mike Benchimol has stepped down as chief operating officer (COO) of Paris-based AI agents startup H Company two weeks after the company’s cofounder and CEO Charles Kantor was replaced by former Palantir exec Gautier Cloix.
“After an intense and hectic year, I took the decision to step away from H Company,” Benchimol wrote in a LinkedIn post. “I believe there’s still so much to build in AI, fintech and beyond, and I can’t wait to explore those from a clean slate!”
H launched just over a year ago with a headline-grabbing $220m seed round led by Accel — one of the largest seeds ever raised in France. It was cofounded by Kantor and four DeepMind alumni with plans to build AI agents, which are systems that can automate tasks.
Three months after announcing the round, three cofounders, Karl Tuyls, Julien Perolat and Daan Wierstra, left the company citing “operational differences”. Following the departures H largely remained in stealth, raising questions about the company’s leaders’ vision and its product roadmap.
Only one cofounder — ex-DeepMind researcher Laurent Sifre — now remains operational at the company.
Benchimol joined the company as COO 10 months ago, according to his LinkedIn profile, just after Tuyls, Perolat and Wierstra left. He previously led operations at Paris-based insurtech unicorn Alan and UK fintech company Checkout.com.
His post teases a “new chapter” and says “exciting things are ahead”. Sifted reached out to Benchimol for comment.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/mike-benchimol-h-coo-stepping-down/
