Anderson Chen, 22, is dropping out of Nanyang Technological University to focus full-time on Operon Solutions, his Y Combinator-backed industrial AI startup. Chen invested roughly $80,000 of his personal savings into the company before it raised a $700,000 pre-seed round in May that closed in about three days.
Operon automates tasks traditionally performed by human operators in manufacturing, oil and gas, and construction. Chen identified the opportunity after internships at manufacturing companies revealed that frontier AI models could not parse confidential engineering documents because they lacked training data specific to heavy industries.
The startup has about 20 clients, ranging from proof-of-concept projects to full contracts. Chen's five-person team, all under 30, operates in an industry where most competitors are in their 40s and 50s. Chen says that skepticism about young founders in heavy industries actually generates client interest.
Chen is not drawing a salary but pays his employees. He funded his initial investment through earlier businesses, including sneaker reselling and Amazon dropshipping at age 14, and a tutoring agency connecting Malaysian students with parents in Singapore.