Mira Murati’s AI startup Thinking Machines Lab emerges from stealth with $2B seed, $10B valuation

Mira Murati, the former CTO of OpenAI, has raised $2 billion for her new AI venture, Thinking Machines Lab, just six months after launching it. The eye-popping round values the company at $10 billion—an unusually high number for a startup still in its early stages.

The deal, first reported by the Financial Times, is one of the largest seed rounds in Silicon Valley history. Led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Sarah Guo’s Conviction Partners, the raise doubled the company’s original $1 billion goal. According to Business Insider, investors had to commit at least $50 million to participate.

The news comes just two months after Business Insider reported that the startup was targeting a $2 billion raise, twice the amount Murati was said to be seeking less than four months earlier, when the company was aiming for $1 billion at a $9 billion valuation.

Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab raises $2B seed to take on OpenAI and Anthropic

Thinking Machines Lab came out of stealth in February 2025. Since then, it has drawn massive interest, largely because of Murati’s track record and the caliber of talent joining her. The startup’s focus is on building AI systems that are more “widely understood, customizable, and generally capable,” according to its blog. The company says it wants to close major gaps in today’s frontier models and is prioritizing ways to help people and AI work together in fields like science and engineering.

Murati knows this space well. During her time at OpenAI, she led development on projects like ChatGPT, DALL·E, and Codex—the model behind GitHub’s Copilot. She also briefly served as OpenAI’s interim CEO during the 2023 upheaval that saw Sam Altman temporarily ousted. Her credibility and vision are a big part of what’s drawing investors to this new project.

The team she’s put together is equally notable. John Schulman, an OpenAI co-founder and co-creator of ChatGPT, is chief scientist. Barret Zoph, former VP of research at OpenAI, is CTO. Other key hires include Jonathan Lachman, Lilian Weng, Luke Metz, Sam Shleifer, and Stephen Roller—many of them with OpenAI ties. Researchers from DeepMind, Meta, CharacterAI, and Mistral AI have also joined. The advisor list includes Bob McGrew and Alec Radford, both key figures in OpenAI’s early breakthroughs.

This flood of talent puts Thinking Machines Lab in the same category as other heavyweight early-stage AI firms like Safe Superintelligence, the $1 billion startup led by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever. Investors are clearly betting big on people over product, especially when those people have already shaped the AI landscape.

That said, not everyone’s convinced the math adds up.

A $10 billion valuation for a company with no public product or revenue has sparked questions about whether the current AI boom is sustainable—or just another bubble in disguise. But for many VCs, the math isn’t about revenue; it’s about risk and reward. If Murati’s startup becomes a category-defining company, the early bets will pay off many times over. That’s the “Power Law” logic driving so much of today’s AI funding frenzy.

There’s also the question of cost. Building next-gen models isn’t cheap. Training large systems and hiring top talent requires serious capital. In that sense, the $2 billion isn’t about runway—it’s table stakes.

One wrinkle that’s already raising eyebrows: the company’s governance structure. The Information reports that Murati holds a board vote with more weight than all other directors combined. Founding shareholders’ votes also count 100x times more than others. That kind of control might help protect the company’s direction, but it also invites questions about transparency and oversight, especially in a sector under increasing regulatory pressure.

Adding another layer of intrigue: Wikipedia notes that the Albanian government joined the funding round, possibly a nod to Murati’s heritage. If confirmed, it’s a rare example of a national government backing a Silicon Valley AI startup, and could hint at broader global interest in the AI race.

Where this all goes is anyone’s guess. Thinking Machines Lab now has the cash, the talent, and the spotlight. The next challenge is turning all of that into products people actually use—and proving it can stand out in a crowded, hype-fueled space.

For now, Murati’s venture stands as one of the boldest bets of the AI boom. Whether it becomes the next OpenAI—or just another footnote—will depend on what comes next.