Thinking Machines Lab, the artificial intelligence startup launched by former OpenAI executive Mira Murati, has raised close to US$2-billion at a valuation of $10-billion before the investment, according to people familiar with the matter.
Andreessen Horowitz led the funding round, with participation from Accel and Conviction Partners, among other investors, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. A spokesman for Thinking Machines declined to comment. Representatives for the VC firms didn’t comment.
The financing is massive for such a young company by typical Silicon Valley standards. Thinking Machines’ fundraise is technically a seed round, meaning a very early-stage deal, but it’s bigger than what most venture-backed companies raise over their entire lifetimes.
Murati joined OpenAI in 2018 and was the company’s chief technology officer and briefly its interim CEO after the temporary ouster of CEO Sam Altman. She exited the company after a period of upheaval following Altman’s return. Several OpenAI employees followed her, and eventually went to work at Thinking Machines, including John Schulman, an OpenAI co-founder, and Barret Zoph, OpenAI’s former vice president of research.
Read: Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati launches new AI start-up
Murati has revealed little about her new company. In a blog post in February, the start-up said it would focus on building AI models and products that support more “human-AI collaboration”. — Kate Clark, (c) 2025 Bloomberg LP
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