OpenClaw Foundation Launches as Independent 501(c)(3), Peter Steinberger at the Helm

Six months ago, OpenClaw was a weekend project built in a Discord server. Today, it officially becomes the OpenClaw Foundation — a 501(c)(3) non-profit with a full-time team, world-class partners, and a global community generating 4.5 million new installations every week.

The foundation launch, announced yesterday by Dave Morin, formalizes what has been a remarkable transformation. OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger, who joined OpenAI earlier this year, will continue steering the project as technical lead. OpenAI has committed to keeping OpenClaw MIT-licensed and independent — and has become a major donor to the foundation.

The Switzerland of AI

The foundation’s stated ambition is to be “the Switzerland of AI” — neutral ground where every model and every lab can plug in and collaborate on standards in the era of agents. Work is already underway in foundation-convened councils on agent identity, agent profiles, evals, and enterprise deployment.

“The great open source projects of our time — Linux, Apache, Mozilla — endure because a neutral steward stands behind them,” the announcement reads. “That is the role we are taking on to keep OpenClaw MIT licensed, open, and independent.”

Full-Time Team and Open Roles

For the first time, OpenClaw has paid staff. The initial engineering team includes Vincent Koc (Chief Architect), Josh Avant, Patrick Erichsen, Dallin Romney, Jason Sy, and Gideon Adegbesan. Operations is led by Jen Vescio (Partnerships), Matt Jasie (Finance), Hannes Rudolph (Community), and Kelly Pike (Talent).

The foundation is actively hiring, with open roles including Member of Technical Staff, Forward Deployed Engineer, Product Designer, Head of Developer Relations, and Chief of Staff.

Partner Support

Partners include OpenAI (inference, Codex Security, and Claw Labs), NVIDIA (NemoClaw for enterprise security), and a network of academic institutions. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang previously called OpenClaw “definitely the next ChatGPT” at GTC.

The lobster has officially grown up.