# August Chen

> August Chen is the co-founder and CEO of Hazel, a Y Combinator-backed startup building AI-native procurement software for U.S. federal, state, and local government. A Harvard mechanical engineering and computer science graduate who built wildfire-prevention software at Palantir, Chen now aims his company at the $2.7 trillion public procurement market, helping overworked civil servants draft compliant solicitations in five minutes instead of five months. Hazel counts customers from K-12 school districts to the U.S. Navy and, in 2025, signed the City of Dallas as the first major Texas city to adopt AI for procurement.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Hazel
- **Organizations:** Hazel (Hazel AI Technologies, Inc.), Palantir Technologies, Harvard University, MakeHarvard
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.A. Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, Harvard University
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads Hazel, an AI-native procurement platform serving customers from K-12 school districts to the U.S. Navy., Built wildfire-prevention software at Palantir credited with a 99% reduction in acres impacted by wildfires in California., His Palantir work helped California utility PG&E save over $100 million in procurement costs.

## Career timeline

- **2020** — Graduated Harvard with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science; led MakeHarvard; wrote a thesis on stratospheric aerosol geoengineering.
- **2020-2023** — Worked at Palantir Technologies, building wildfire-prevention applications and developing channel partnerships from zero to one.
- **2024** — Co-founded Hazel with Elton Lossner; joined Y Combinator's Winter 2024 batch.
- **2024** — Pivoted from a B2B2G RFP marketplace (Hazeltech) to a direct B2G procurement platform for government agencies.
- **2025** — Signed the City of Dallas, the first major Texas city to adopt AI for procurement; spoke at NDIA's 'AI for Requirements' event on modernizing DoD's requirements process.

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads Hazel, an AI-native procurement platform serving customers from K-12 school districts to the U.S. Navy.
- Built wildfire-prevention software at Palantir credited with a 99% reduction in acres impacted by wildfires in California.
- His Palantir work helped California utility PG&E save over $100 million in procurement costs.
- Took Hazel through Y Combinator (W24) with backing from investors who previously supported Palantir and Anduril.
- Signed the City of Dallas as the first major Texas city to adopt AI for procurement (July 2025).

## Latest updates

- **2025-07** — Hazel partnered with the City of Dallas, making it the first major Texas city to adopt AI for procurement.
- **2025-10** — Chen spoke at NDIA's 'AI for Requirements: Modernizing DoD's Requirements Process' event.

## Links

- Website: https://hazelai.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/augustschen/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/august-chen
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-25