Thinking Machines Lab Raises Record $2 Billion in Seed Funding, Valued at $12 Billion

Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab is worth $12B in seed round | TechCrunch

Thinking Machines Lab, the AI startup founded by OpenAI's former chief technology officer Mira Murati, officially closed a $2 billion seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz on Monday, a company spokesperson told TechCrunch. The deal, which includes participation from NVIDIA, Accel, ServiceNow, CISCO, AMD, and Jane Street, values the startup at $12 billion, the spokesperson said. Several outlets reported in June that Thinking Machines Lab was close to closing this $2B funding round at a $10 billion valuation, but, apparently, that valuation has shot up in the last month. The deal marks one of the largest seed rounds -- or first funding rounds -- in Silicon Valley history, representing the massive investor appetite to back promising new AI labs. Thinking Machines Lab is less than a year old and has yet to reveal what it's working on. However, Murati peeled back the curtain on the company's first product a bit in a post on X Tuesday, claiming that the startup plans to unveil its work in the "next couple months," and it will include a "significant open source offering." Murati also said the product will be useful for researchers and startups building custom AI models. "Soon, we'll also share our best science to help the research community better understand frontier AI systems," said Murati. It's unclear if Murati means that Thinking Machines Lab will release an open AI model, as some of OpenAI's other competitors have done to undercut the ChatGPT-maker's offerings. A Thinking Machines Lab spokesperson declined to comment further. Since Murati launched her venture, Thinking Machines Lab has attracted some of her former coworkers at OpenAI, including John Schulman, Barret Zoph, and Luke Metz. Murati says her company is currently trying to staff up, specifically for people with a track record of "building successful AI-driven products from the ground up," according to the startup's website. Meta reportedly held talks to acquire Thinking Machines Lab in recent months to bolster its superintelligence efforts, but they didn't progress to a final offer. Thinking Machines Labs is one of a handful of AI startups that investors believe to be a legitimate threat to leading AI model developers today, such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind. With billions in funding, Murati may have enough of a war chest to train frontier AI models. Thinking Machines Labs previously struck a deal with Google Cloud to power its AI models. Surely, Thinking Machines Lab has an uphill battle to catch up with other AI labs. It's likely banking on novel research breakthroughs to set it apart; however, that's an increasingly difficult task as Meta, Google DeepMind, Anthropic, and OpenAI invest billions in their own research teams.

Thinking Machines Lab Raises a Record $2 Billion, Announces Cofounders

Mira Murati and several other former OpenAI researchers are behind the buzzy AI startup, now valued at $12 billion and officially out of stealth. Thinking Machines Lab, an artificial intelligence company founded by top researchers who fled OpenAI, has raised a record $2 billion seed round that values the fledgling firm at $12 billion. The funding round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and included Nvidia, Accel, Cisco, and AMD -- among others. The mammoth investment reflects the ultracompetitive race to build advanced AI systems, as well as the premium placed on top AI talent. It is the largest seed funding round in history. Thinking Machines is led by CEO Mira Murati, who stepped down as OpenAI's chief technology officer last September. Her cofounders are John Schulman, a computer scientist who helped build ChatGPT; Barrett Zoph, ex-vice president of research at OpenAI; Lilian Weng, who worked on AI safety and robotics at the company, Andrew Tulloch, who worked on pretraining and reasoning; and Luke Metz, who worked on post-training at OpenAI. Thinking Machines Lab confirmed the team to WIRED on Tuesday, the first time it has publicly done so. Murati said in a post on X on Tuesday that Thinking Machines is developing multimodal AI that will interact with humans "through conversation, through sight, through the messy way we collaborate." She added that the company will release its first product within the next few months, noting that the release "will include a significant open source component and be useful for researchers and startups developing custom models." She said that the company would also release research "to help the research community better understand frontier AI systems." In just over a decade, AI has gone from a research backwater to a high-stakes and high-drama investment, recruitment, and dealmaking frenzy. The drama reached a new level in recent months as talk of AI firms like OpenAI nearing human or superhuman level AI intensified. (Thinking Machines Lab has been notably quiet on that front -- at least so far). Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also shaken up the industry by luring top researchers to a new superintelligence lab with promises of multimillion dollar pay packages. Zuckerberg has succeeded in bringing several OpenAI researchers over to the new project. Given their prominence and expertise, Thinking Machines' cofounders are highly likely to have been approached. The company declined to comment on the matter, however.

Mira Murati's AI startup Thinking Machines valued at $12 billion in early-stage funding

July 15 (Reuters) - Thinking Machines Lab, the artificial intelligence startup founded by former OpenAI executive Mira Murati, said on Tuesday it has raised about $2 billion at a valuation of $12 billion in a funding round led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. The fundraise also saw participation from AI chip giant Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab, Accel, ServiceNow (NOW.N), opens new tab, Cisco (CSCO.O), opens new tab, AMD (AMD.O), opens new tab and Jane Street, the startup said. The massive funding round for a company launched only in February, with no revenue or products yet, underscores Murati's ability to attract investors in a sector where top executives have become coveted targets in an escalating talent war. "We're excited that in the next couple months we will be able to share our first product, which will include a significant open source component and be useful for researchers and startups developing custom model," CEO Murati said in a post, opens new tab on the X social media platform. Reuters had reported in April Andreessen Horowitz was in talks to lead an outsized early-stage funding round. Thinking Machines has said it wants to build artificial intelligence systems that are safer, more reliable and aimed at a broader number of applications than rivals. Nearly two-thirds of its team at launch comprised of former OpenAI employees. Murati, who started Thinking Machines after an abrupt exit from OpenAI last September, is among a growing list of former executives from the ChatGPT maker who have launched AI startups. Another two, Dario Amodei's Anthropic and Ilya Sutskever's Safe Superintelligence, have attracted former OpenAI researchers and raised billions of dollars in funding. Investor enthusiasm toward new AI startups has stayed strong, despite some questions about tech industry spending. That helped U.S. startup funding surge nearly 76% to $162.8 billion in the first half of 2025, with AI accounting for about 64.1% of the total deal value, according to a Pitchbook report. Reporting by Krystal Hu in New York and Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Arun Koyyur Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati raises $2 billion for new AI startup Thinking Machines Lab

Mira Murati, Chief Technology Officer of OpenAI, speaks during The Wall Street Journal's WSJ Tech Live Conference in Laguna Beach, California on October 17, 2023. Mira Murati, the former chief technology officer of OpenAI, said Tuesday that her artificial intelligence startup Thinking Machines Lab has raised $2 billion in fresh capital and will announce its first product "in the next couple months." Murati rocketed into the spotlight in 2023 when she was named interim CEO of OpenAI after Sam Altman was briefly ousted by the company's board. She left OpenAI in September and launched Thinking Machines in February, though she has not shared many details about the startup publicly.

Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab Raises $2 Billion to Build Collaborative General Intelligence | AIM

It plans to release its first product within the next few months. Thinking Machines Lab, the AI company founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, has raised $2 billion in funding to accelerate the development of its collaborative general intelligence platform. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with backing from major players including NVIDIA, Accel, ServiceNow, Cisco, AMD, Jane Street and others. "We're building multimodal AI that works with how you naturally interact with the world -- through conversation, through sight, through the messy way we collaborate," Murati posted on X as she announced the funding. The company, which emerged from stealth earlier this year, is working on an AI system that can function across modes of interaction and support natural human collaboration. It plans to release its first product within the next few months. According to Murati, the product will include a "significant open source component" and will be targeted at researchers and startups developing custom models. Murati, who previously led the teams behind ChatGPT and DALL·E at OpenAI and briefly served as its interim CEO, described the lab's mission as one that "empowers humanity through advancing collaborative general intelligence." She also said the company would publish research to help the scientific community better understand frontier AI systems. "We believe AI should serve as an extension of individual agency and, in the spirit of freedom, be distributed as widely and equitably as possible," she said.

Ex-OpenAI CTO Murati's Thinking Machines Lab valued at $12bn

It hasn't even launched its first product, but already Mira Murati's Thinking Machine Labs has attracted some $2bn in investment and is being valued at $12bn. It is a sure sign of just how much US investors are committed to the AI project that Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab has been able to attract big name investors on such a scale before even bringing a product to market. In a round led by A16z (Andreessen Horowitz), the start-up has raised some $2bn. As CTO at OpenAI Murati oversaw some of the major developments at the AI giant, including the likes of ChatGPT, and even briefly took over as interim chief executive officer of OpenAI when Sam Altman was removed in November 2023, and subsequently reinstated. "We're excited that in the next couple months we'll be able to share our first product, which will include a significant open-source component and be useful for researchers and start-ups developing custom models," said Murati in a post on X last night (15 July). "Soon, we'll also share our best science to help the research community better understand frontier AI systems." Murati confirmed that the round was led by A16z (Andreessen Horowitz) and had participation from chips giants Nvidia and AMD, as well as Accel, ServiceNow, Cisco and Jane Street. It will be interesting to see how significant the open-source component will be, given that OpenAI just last weekend confirmed it had postponed its open source model for safety reasons, and the big Chinese players such as Moonshot AI and DeepSeek are all betting on open source. "We believe AI should serve as an extension of individual agency and, in the spirit of freedom, be distributed as widely and equitably as possible," Murati said. "We're building multimodal AI that works with how you naturally interact with the world - through conversation, through sight, through the messy way we collaborate." Murati abruptly left the ChatGPT maker back in September 2024, and said she planned to pursue her own project. For a start-up that only launched in February and has yet to release its first product, it seems to confirm that Silicon Valley's love story with AI and leading AI talent is far from over. It all comes at a time when Meta's Zuckerberg has been actively poaching OpenAI talent, and one can probably assume that several of the Thinking Machine Labs team would have been approached. Murati is just the latest of former OpenAI executives to strike out on her own - think Anthropic's Dario and Daniela Amodei and Safe SuperIntelligence's Ilya Sutskever. Thinking Machine Labs is definitely one to watch. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

Thinking Machines, led by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, raises $2B in seed funding - SiliconANGLE

Thinking Machines, led by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, raises $2B in seed funding Artificial intelligence pioneer Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab Inc. said today it has raised $2 billion, in what is likely to be one of the largest seed funding rounds ever disclosed. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and saw participation from a host of other illustrious investors, including Nvidia Corp., Accel, ServiceNow Inc., Cisco Ventures, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Jane Street Thinking Machines, which was founded by its Chief Executive Murati in February, had reportedly been holding talks with investors since April, and had originally been talking about a $10 billion valuation, but that number has since shot up, and it's now valued at $12 billion, it said today. The fact that such a young startup, which has not yet announced any products, was able to raise one of the largest seed rounds in Silicon Valley's history, underscores not only the massive enthusiasm investors have for promising new AI companies, but also Murati's personal reputation as one of the industry's leading lights. Murati formerly served as the Chief Technology Officer at OpenAI and oversaw a number of advances during her time at the company, including the development of ChatGPT and the company's image generation model, DALL-E. She also played a key role in the development of OpenAI's GPT-4o reasoning model, which is more humanlike in the way it takes time to research and consider its responses to user prompts. In a post on X that announced today's round, Murati dropped a few hints about what the company's first product might be, saying it will unveil what it's working on in the "next couple months". She promised it will include a "significant open source offering" that will make it useful for researchers building custom AI models. "Soon, we'll also share our best science to help the research community better understand frontier AI systems," she said. That doesn't necessarily suggest Thinking Machines plans to launch a fully open-source AI model, as some of OpenAI's rivals have done in an effort to unseat the ChatGPT maker from its pole position in the AI industry. When she founded the company in February, Murati also spoke about "infrastructure quality" as being a top priority, and so that may be another focus of its work. She said at the time that "research productivity is paramount and heavily depends on the reliability, efficiency and ease of use of infrastructure", and added that the company aims to "build things correctly for the long haul". In addition, she also talked about how the AI models she's working on won't be specifically tailored to perform certain tasks, such as programming or math. Instead, she is designing models that will be able to "adapt to the full spectrum of human expertise" and fulfill a broader spectrum of applications. Murati is a talented AI developer, but she's not alone in driving Thinking Machines. She has also managed to convince a number of her former colleagues at OpenAI to join her at the company, including the research executive Barret Zoph, who serves as its CTO, and John Schulman, a co-founder of the ChatGPT developer, who has taken on the role of Chief Research Officer. According to Murati, the company is now looking to expand its team, eying talent that has a proven track record of building successful AI products from the ground up. Having invested billions of dollars into the startup, investors will be hoping that Thinking Machines' talented team now have the resources they need to catch up with, and perhaps one day even surpass industry stalwarts like OpenAI, Google LLC, Anthropic PBC and DeepMind Ltd. However, the startup will be keenly aware that it's facing an uphill struggle, as those rivals have all amassed many more billions of dollars and continue to push the needle as they race to try and achieve the ultimate goal of artificial general intelligence, or machines that surpass humans in their thinking.

Mira Murati's AI startup lands massive $2B seed

Thinking Machines Lab, an AI startup founded by Mira Murati, OpenAI's former chief technology officer, officially finalized a $2 billion seed funding round on Monday, as confirmed by a company spokesperson to TechCrunch. This funding round was led by Andreessen Horowitz. The transaction establishes the startup's valuation at $12 billion. Nvidia, Accel, ServiceNow, CISCO, AMD, and Jane Street participated in this seed round. Reports from June indicated that Thinking Machines Lab was nearing the completion of this $2 billion funding round with an anticipated valuation of $10 billion. The actual valuation, however, increased by $2 billion during the past month. This funding constitutes one of the largest seed rounds in Silicon Valley. Thinking Machines Lab is less than one year old and has not yet disclosed its specific projects. Murati provided some details regarding the company's initial product in a post on X on Tuesday. She stated that the startup intends to unveil its work within the "next couple months," adding that it will include a "significant open source offering." Murati also indicated that the product will be beneficial for researchers and startups developing custom AI models. Murati further stated, "Soon, we'll also share our best science to help the research community better understand frontier AI systems." Thinking Machines Lab has not clarified whether this implies the release of an open AI model, a strategy adopted by some competitors of OpenAI. A spokesperson for Thinking Machines Lab declined to provide additional comments on this matter. Since its inception, Thinking Machines Lab has attracted former OpenAI colleagues of Murati, including John Schulman, Barret Zoph, and Luke Metz. The company's website indicates that Thinking Machines Lab is actively recruiting individuals with a demonstrated history of "building successful AI-driven products from the ground up." Meta reportedly engaged in discussions to acquire Thinking Machines Lab in recent months, aiming to enhance its superintelligence initiatives, but these talks did not advance to a definitive offer. Thinking Machines Lab is identified by investors as one of a select group of AI startups that pose a potential challenge to established AI model developers, such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind. The $2 billion in funding provides Thinking Machines Lab with resources to train frontier AI models. The company previously entered into an agreement with Google Cloud to power its AI models.

She Was CEO of OpenAI for 2 Days. Now Her Secretive AI Startup Has Raised $12 Billion.

Mira Murati spent six and a half years at OpenAI as its chief technology officer (CTO) before stepping down in September 2024. Now, her AI startup Thinking Machines Lab (TML), which was founded in February, closed a $2 billion seed round this week that values the startup at $12 billion, a spokesperson told TechCrunch. TML has yet to launch any products, at least publicly. But on Tuesday, Murati said on X that the company would be sharing its first product "in the next couple of months." Related: This New AI Startup Led By a Former OpenAI Exec Is Offering $500,000 Salaries "We're building multimodal AI that works with how you naturally interact with the world - through conversation, through sight, through the messy way we collaborate," Murati wrote. "We're excited that in the next couple months we'll be able to share our first product, which will include a significant open source component and be useful for researchers and startups developing custom models." The deal was led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Nvidia, Accel, ServiceNow, CISCO, AMD, and Jane Street, Murati wrote. She also noted that TML is hiring. "We're always looking for extraordinary talent that learns by doing, turning research into useful things," she wrote. "We believe AI should serve as an extension of individual agency and, in the spirit of freedom, be distributed as widely and equitably as possible. We hope this vision resonates with those who share our commitment to advancing the field. If so, join us. https://thinkingmachines.paperform.co." Related: Here's How Much a Typical Salesforce Employee Makes in a Year According to federal filings obtained by Business Insider, several TML employees are earning around $500,000 in compensation. Although she was CTO of OpenAI, Murati spent two days as the interim CEO after the current chief executive and co-founder, Sam Altman, was forced out by the board in November 2023. After a drama-filled couple of days, Altman returned to his role. Murati, meanwhile, left OpenAI about a year later. Altman has said Murati was instrumental in the creation of ChatGPT.

Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati's A.I. Startup Hits $12B Valuation in Just 5 Months

The former OpenAI exec is building collaborative, multimodal A.I. and keeping details under wraps for now. Scant details are known about the inner workings of Thinking Machines Lab, an A.I. startup launched by former OpenAI executive Mira Murati. The company has yet to release an official product, but that hasn't deterred major backers. Investors including Nvidia, AMD and Jane Street just contributed to a staggering $2 billion seed round, one of the largest in Silicon Valley history. Sign Up For Our Daily Newsletter Sign Up Thank you for signing up! By clicking submit, you agree to our <a href="http://observermedia.com/terms">terms of service</a> and acknowledge we may use your information to send you emails, product samples, and promotions on this website and other properties. You can opt out anytime. See all of our newsletters "Thinking Machines Lab exists to empower humanity through advancing collaborative general intelligence," said Murati in an X post yesterday (July 15) announcing the round, which was led by Andreessen Horowitz and values the startup at $12 billion. "We're building multimodal A.I. that works with how you naturally interact with the world -- through conversation, through sight, through the messy way we collaborate," she added. Murati's star power in the tech industry appears to be a key driver of investor confidence, even as the company keeps most of its progress under wraps. She spent six years at OpenAI, most recently as chief technology officer, and previously worked as a product manager at Tesla on the Model X. X. In 2023, Murati, 36, briefly stepped in as OpenAI's interim CEO during Sam Altman's temporary ouster. She left the company later that year to "create the time and space to do my own exploration." That exploration took shape in February with the launch of Thinking Machines Lab. The company draws talent from across the A.I. landscape, including former researchers from at Google, Meta and Mistral AI, along with a number of OpenAI alumni. Notable names on the team include John Schulman, Luke Metz, Lillian Weng and Barret Zoph, who now serves as the startup's chief technology officer. According to Murati, the startup is preparing to unveil its first product in the coming months. She said it will "include a significant open source component and be useful for researchers and startups developing custom models." The startup is also actively hiring, with a focus on people passionate about translating research into "useful things." Murati is the latest in a growing list of former OpenAI executives who have launched high-profile ventures of their own. Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI's former chief scientist, left last year to found Safe Superintelligence (SSI), a secretive startup focused on safely developing advanced forms of A.I. SSI was valued at $32 billion earlier this year. Another major player, Anthropic, was founded in 2020 by former OpenAI vice president of research Dario Amodei. The safety-focused firm raised $3.5 billion in May, pushing its valuation to $61.5 billion. Beyond its product launch, Thinking Machines Lab also plans to share its research with the broader A.I. community. Murati said the goal is to help deepen understandings of frontier systems. "We believe A.I. should serve as an extension of individual agency and, in the spirit of freedom, be distributed as widely and equitably as possible," she said.

OpenAI's former CTO Mira Murati's startup Thinking Machines raises $2 billion led by a16z - The Economic Times

Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz led the round that also saw participation from AI chip giant Nvidia, Accel, ServiceNow, Cisco, AMD and Jane Street, the startup said.Thinking Machines Lab, the artificial intelligence startup founded by former OpenAI executive Mira Murati, said on Tuesday that it has raised $2 billion in funding. Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz led the round that also saw participation from AI chip giant Nvidia, Accel, ServiceNow, Cisco, AMD and Jane Street, the startup said. The massive funding round for a company launched only in February, with no revenue or products yet, underscores Murati's ability to attract investors in a sector where top executives have become coveted targets in an escalating talent war. Thinking Machines has said it wants to build artificial intelligence systems that are safer, more reliable and aimed at a broader number of applications than rivals. Nearly two-thirds of its team at launch comprised of former OpenAI employees. Murati, who started Thinking Machines after an abrupt exit from OpenAI last September, is among a growing list of former executives from the ChatGPT maker who have launched AI startups. Another two, Dario Amodei's Anthropic and Ilya Sutskever's Safe Superintelligence, have both attracted former OpenAI researchers and raised billions of dollars in funding. Investor enthusiasm toward new AI startups has stayed strong, despite some questions about tech industry spending. That helped U.S. startup funding surge nearly 76% to $162.8 billion in the first half of 2025, with AI accounting for about 64.1% of the total deal value, according to a Pitchbook report.

Ex-OpenAI Exec Mira Murati Lands $2 Billion Seed Round For AI Startup Backed By Andreessen Horowitz, Nvidia, AMD, Other Tech Giants - Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD)

Former OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati has secured a record-breaking $2 billion seed round for her artificial intelligence startup, Thinking Machines Lab. What Happened: The funding round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, according to Murati's post on X, with participation from Nvidia Corp. NVDA, Accel, ServiceNow Inc. NOW, Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD, and Jane Street. The funding represents one of the largest seed rounds in tech history, doubling Murati's initial $1 billion target reported just two months prior. The investment minimum for participants was set at $50 million per check, signaling institutional confidence in the venture's potential. Murati launched Thinking Machines Lab in early 2025 after departing OpenAI in late 2024. The company's mission centers on developing "multimodal AI that works with how you naturally interact with the world - through conversation, through sight, through the messy way we collaborate," Murati wrote on X. The startup has assembled a team of former OpenAI executives, including Chief Scientist John Schulman, who co-led ChatGPT development, and advisors Alec Radford and Bob McGrew. The company promises to release its first product within months, featuring a significant open-source component designed for researchers and startups developing custom models. The funding comes as AI talent wars intensify across Silicon Valley. H-1B visa filings reveal Thinking Machines Lab offers base salaries averaging $462,500, with some technical employees earning up to $500,000 annually, significantly higher than OpenAI's average of under $300,000. See Also: Meta, AWS Roll Out $6 Million Startup Program To Counter OpenAI, Make Llama The Go-To AI Model For Builders Why It Matters: Murati's departure from OpenAI followed a turbulent period where she briefly served as interim CEO during Sam Altman's temporary ouster in November 2023. Her AI career began in 2018 as VP of applied AI at OpenAI after previous roles at Tesla Inc. TSLA. The funding reflects continued investor appetite for AI ventures despite market uncertainties. OpenAI recently raised $40 billion at a $300 billion valuation, while competitor Ilya Sutskever's Safe Superintelligence secured $1 billion in seed funding at a $30 billion valuation. Thinking Machines Lab plans to advance "collaborative general intelligence" while maintaining AI should be "distributed as widely and equitably as possible," positioning itself as a potential challenger to established players like OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc. META. Read Next: Tim Cook's New Job Is Keeping Trump 'Happy,' Says Economist Justin Wolfers: 'Innovation Takes A Back Seat To Political Favoritism' Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Photo courtesy: Shutterstock AMDAdvanced Micro Devices Inc$161.220.71%Stock Score Locked: Want to See it? Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Reveal Full ScoreEdge RankingsMomentum77.56Growth97.03Quality81.95Value11.45Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewCSCOCisco Systems Inc$67.28-0.13%METAMeta Platforms Inc$707.000.58%NOWServiceNow Inc$966.14-0.09%NVDANVIDIA Corp$172.700.78%TSLATesla Inc$322.620.30%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Thinking Machines Raises $2 Billion Amid AI Deal Boom | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. The artificial intelligence (AI) company announced the funding Tuesday (July 15), saying it would help in its mission of building "multimodal" AI. "We're excited that in the next couple months we'll be able to share our first product, which will include a significant open source component and be useful for researchers and startups developing custom models," Murati wrote in a post on X. "Soon, we'll also share our best science to help the research community better understand frontier AI systems." The funding round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Nvidia and Cisco among the participating investors. The announcement comes a little less than a month after a report by the Financial Times (FT) that Thinking Machines had secured a $2 billion funding deal, one of the largest ever seed rounds in Silicon Valley, valuing the firm at $10 billion. Murati, the one-time chief technology officer for OpenAI, stepped down from that job in September, announcing the launch of her new company in February. "Our goal is simple, advance AI by making it broadly useful and understandable through solid foundations, open science and practical applications," Murati said at the time. The FT report from June cited sources who said Murati was one of the executives who flagged concerns about the leadership of chief executive Sam Altman ahead of his short-lived ouster in 2023. She served briefly as interim CEO before Altman returned to the company. Kerr told PYMNTS this is a common trend after a period of maturity in which larger companies would seek out smaller ones to absorb their technologies instead of building their own. "You're going to start to have the big winners start to acquire other technologies rather than doing it in-house," Kerr said. "That's the natural progression." The value of global M&A deals involving AI startups surged by 288% to $49.9 billion between 2023 and 2024, according to Mergermarket data shared with PYMNTS. The number of deals rose 53%, to 454. And compared to 2019, the number of deals has climbed by 130% while the deal value has ballooned by 730%.

Mira Murati's AI startup Thinking Machines valued at $12 billion in early-stage funding

(Reuters) -Thinking Machines Lab, the artificial intelligence startup founded by former OpenAI executive Mira Murati, said on Tuesday it has raised about $2 billion at a valuation of $12 billion in a funding round led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. The fundraise also saw participation from AI chip giant Nvidia, Accel, ServiceNow, Cisco, AMD and Jane Street, the startup said. The massive funding round for a company launched only in February, with no revenue or products yet, underscores Murati's ability to attract investors in a sector where top executives have become coveted targets in an escalating talent war. "We're excited that in the next couple months we will be able to share our first product, which will include a significant open source component and be useful for researchers and startups developing custom model," CEO Murati said in a post on the X social media platform. Reuters had reported in April Andreessen Horowitz was in talks to lead an outsized early-stage funding round. Thinking Machines has said it wants to build artificial intelligence systems that are safer, more reliable and aimed at a broader number of applications than rivals. Nearly two-thirds of its team at launch comprised of former OpenAI employees. Murati, who started Thinking Machines after an abrupt exit from OpenAI last September, is among a growing list of former executives from the ChatGPT maker who have launched AI startups. Another two, Dario Amodei's Anthropic and Ilya Sutskever's Safe Superintelligence, have attracted former OpenAI researchers and raised billions of dollars in funding. Investor enthusiasm toward new AI startups has stayed strong, despite some questions about tech industry spending. That helped U.S. startup funding surge nearly 76% to $162.8 billion in the first half of 2025, with AI accounting for about 64.1% of the total deal value, according to a Pitchbook report. (Reporting by Krystal Hu in New York and Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Arun Koyyur)

Mira Murati's AI startup Thinking Machines raises $2 billion in a16z-led round

(Reuters) -Thinking Machines Lab, the artificial intelligence startup founded by former OpenAI executive Mira Murati, said on Tuesday that it has raised $2 billion in funding. Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz led the round that also saw participation from AI chip giant Nvidia, Accel, ServiceNow, Cisco, AMD and Jane Street, the startup said. The massive funding round for a company launched only in February, with no revenue or products yet, underscores Murati's ability to attract investors in a sector where top executives have become coveted targets in an escalating talent war. Thinking Machines has said it wants to build artificial intelligence systems that are safer, more reliable and aimed at a broader number of applications than rivals. Nearly two-thirds of its team at launch comprised of former OpenAI employees. Murati, who started Thinking Machines after an abrupt exit from OpenAI last September, is among a growing list of former executives from the ChatGPT maker who have launched AI startups. Another two, Dario Amodei's Anthropic and Ilya Sutskever's Safe Superintelligence, have both attracted former OpenAI researchers and raised billions of dollars in funding. Investor enthusiasm toward new AI startups has stayed strong, despite some questions about tech industry spending. That helped U.S. startup funding surge nearly 76% to $162.8 billion in the first half of 2025, with AI accounting for about 64.1% of the total deal value, according to a Pitchbook report. (Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)