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Building math AI startup: How 24-year-old Stanford dropout Carina Hong is attracting Big Tech talent
By Phong Ngo
Sun 12/21/2025, 02:07 am (PT)
China-born Carina Hong, a 24-year-old Stanford dropout, has drawn an elite group of AI researchers and a world-renowned mathematician to Axiom Math, her startup building an AI mathematician.
Hong’s company has employed 17 people, many of whom previously worked at Meta’s Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) lab, as well as Meta’s GenAI team and Google Brain, which merged into DeepMind in 2023.
Founded in March, Axiom drew widespread attention after announcing it had solved two long-standing Erdos math problems that had resisted solutions for decades. In September, the company revealed it had raised $64 million in seed funding.
Hong says Axiom’s ambition, tackling the hardest problems in mathematics, has been key to attracting top talent. "One thing I heard from some of the top researchers and mathematicians I've recruited to Axiom is that solving for mathematical superintelligence will be their legacy," Hong told Business Insider. "When the problem is hard enough, talent density gets very high, and that makes you a magnet for other great thinkers."
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Carina Hong, founder of AI startup Axiom Math. Photo from Hongs LinkedIn
Carina Hong, founder of AI startup Axiom Math. Photo from Hong's LinkedIn
Among Axiom’s most notable recruits is Ken Ono, a 57-year-old professor at the University of Virginia and one of the world’s leading mathematicians, as well as Hong’s former mentor. "Ken Ono is the idol of many math students," said Hong.
Ono has followed an unconventional path from the outset. Crushed by parental pressure as a child, he left high school without graduating, yet went on to attend college, discover his passion for mathematics, and spend decades teaching at the University of Wisconsin and Emory before joining the University of Virginia in 2019
By Phong Ngo
Sun 12/21/2025, 02:07 am (PT)
China-born Carina Hong, a 24-year-old Stanford dropout, has drawn an elite group of AI researchers and a world-renowned mathematician to Axiom Math, her startup building an AI mathematician.
Hong’s company has employed 17 people, many of whom previously worked at Meta’s Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) lab, as well as Meta’s GenAI team and Google Brain, which merged into DeepMind in 2023.
Founded in March, Axiom drew widespread attention after announcing it had solved two long-standing Erdos math problems that had resisted solutions for decades. In September, the company revealed it had raised $64 million in seed funding.
Hong says Axiom’s ambition, tackling the hardest problems in mathematics, has been key to attracting top talent. "One thing I heard from some of the top researchers and mathematicians I've recruited to Axiom is that solving for mathematical superintelligence will be their legacy," Hong told Business Insider. "When the problem is hard enough, talent density gets very high, and that makes you a magnet for other great thinkers."
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Carina Hong, founder of AI startup Axiom Math. Photo from Hongs LinkedIn
Carina Hong, founder of AI startup Axiom Math. Photo from Hong's LinkedIn
Among Axiom’s most notable recruits is Ken Ono, a 57-year-old professor at the University of Virginia and one of the world’s leading mathematicians, as well as Hong’s former mentor. "Ken Ono is the idol of many math students," said Hong.
Ono has followed an unconventional path from the outset. Crushed by parental pressure as a child, he left high school without graduating, yet went on to attend college, discover his passion for mathematics, and spend decades teaching at the University of Wisconsin and Emory before joining the University of Virginia in 2019
