Ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati Raises USD 2 Bn for New AI Venture Thinking Machines The round was led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and included participation from major industry players such as Nvidia, Accel, ServiceNow, Cisco, AMD, and Jane Street.
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Thinking Machines Lab, the artificial intelligence startup founded by former OpenAI executive Mira Murati, has raised around USD 2 billion in funding at a valuation of USD 12 billion.
The round was led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and included participation from major industry players such as Nvidia, Accel, ServiceNow, Cisco, AMD, and Jane Street.
The funding is notable given that the company, founded in February, has yet to release a product or generate revenue. The investment highlights the strong confidence in Murati's leadership and the continued interest in generative AI, despite concerns over rising tech sector spending.
"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," Murati said in a post on X.
Thinking Machines aims to build artificial intelligence systems that are safer, more reliable, and designed for wider applications compared to existing offerings. At launch, nearly two-thirds of its team were former OpenAI employees, signaling a broader movement of talent within the AI industry.
Murati joins other former OpenAI leaders who have launched their own ventures, including Dario Amodei of Anthropic and Ilya Sutskever of Safe Superintelligence. These firms have also secured large funding rounds and drawn experienced researchers.
According to Pitchbook, US startup funding rose nearly 76 percent to USD 162.8 billion in the first half of 2025, with AI-related deals making up over 64 percent of the total investment value.
