# Maor Farid

> Maor Farid is the co-founder and CEO of Leo AI, the first AI copilot purpose-built for mechanical engineers. A former Captain in Israel's Unit 8200 intelligence corps and the youngest-ever PhD graduate from the Technion at age 24, he went on to do postdoctoral research at MIT as a Fulbright fellow, studying how to predict catastrophic failures in complex physical systems. He founded Leo AI in 2023 to build what he calls 'the most boring, unsexy AI' - a tool trained on more than a million vetted engineering sources that handles documentation, part searches and calculations so engineers can focus on design. Leo AI raised $9.7M and is used by teams at Toyota, HP, Mobileye, Philips and Scania.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Leo AI
- **Organizations:** Leo AI, MIT, Technion, Unit 8200 (IDF), Learn to Succeed (NGO), ScienceAbroad
- **From:** Ness Ziona, Israel
- **Nationality:** Israeli-American
- **Education:** B.Sc. & M.Sc., Mechanical Engineering (with honors), Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering (youngest graduate, age 24), Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Postdoctoral research, Applied Mathematics & AI (Fulbright Fellow), MIT, Emerging Leaders Program, Harvard Kennedy School
- **Known for:** Youngest PhD graduate in Technion history (age 24), Forbes 30 Under 30 (2019), Fulbright Scholarship (2019) - among 8 winners nationwide across all disciplines

## Career timeline

- **2010** — Founded 'Learn to Succeed', an NGO for at-risk youth in Israel's periphery
- **2017** — Earned PhD from the Technion at age 24, the youngest graduate; research on earthquake effects on nuclear facilities
- **2019** — Completed military service as a Captain and AI researcher/commander in Unit 8200; named Forbes 30 Under 30; awarded Fulbright Scholarship
- **2019** — Began postdoctoral research at MIT in applied mathematics and AI, studying catastrophic failures in complex systems
- **2023** — Co-founded Leo AI with Moti Moravia to build the first AI for mechanical engineering
- **2025** — Leo AI announced $9.7M total funding ($5M seed led by Flint Capital); adopted by Toyota, HP, Mobileye, Philips, Scania

## Achievements

- Youngest PhD graduate in Technion history (age 24)
- Forbes 30 Under 30 (2019)
- Fulbright Scholarship (2019) - among 8 winners nationwide across all disciplines
- Israel Scholarship Educational Foundation (ISEF) Fellowship (2019)
- Moskowitz Prize for Zionism / Social Entrepreneurship (2019)
- IDF 'Excellent Scientist' designation - top three IDF academics
- Unit 8200 Excellent Commander Award (2019)
- Built Leo AI's proprietary Large Mechanical Model with 96% accuracy on engineering questions vs 46% for generic AI
- Founded award-winning NGO 'Learn to Succeed' reaching thousands of youth annually
- Published the book 'Learn to Succeed' (2019)

## Latest updates

- **2025-09** — Leo AI announced it raised $9.7M total funding, with a $5M seed round led by Flint Capital, to build the world's first AI for mechanical engineering.

## Links

- Website: https://maorfarid.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maorfaridphd/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/l9NaVVeZKyw
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maor.farid/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/maor-farid
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-22