Seed to Sky: Murati’s Thinking Machines Bags Historic $2 Billion Boost

Image Source: PitchBook

In a seismic moment in the AI startup ecosystem, Thinking Machines Lab, founded by ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, raised a staggering $2 billion seed round, valuing the six-month-old firm at $10 billion. Andreessen Horowitz's round, joined by Conviction Partners, is one of the largest seed rounds in Silicon Valley history, pointing to investor frenzy for next-generation AI startups.

1. Who's Behind the Machines?

Mira Murati, former interim CEO of OpenAI in 2023, opened Thinking Machines Lab in February 2025.
The company has quickly built a 30-person team, with close to two-thirds being former OpenAI staff.
Key recruits include John Schulman, cofounder and former alignment leader at OpenAI, now Chief Scientist at Thinking Machines, and Barret Zoph, a leading AI researcher who left OpenAI with Murati.

2. What Are They Building?

The firm is building a next-gen AI platform with a emphasis on human-AI collaboration, albeit product specifics are not disclosed.
Murati has prioritized a mission based on open science, robust base models, and real-world applications that enable more malleable and transparent AI.

3. Why It Matters

The transaction is part of a wider trend of AI brainpower fragmenting away from OpenAI to start competing labs, including Anthropic and Safe Superintelligence Inc.
Investors are betting big on these new entrants to lead the next wave of general-purpose AI models, even before product launches.

Thinking Machines’ valuation leap—without a public product—signals unprecedented confidence in Murati’s leadership and team pedigree.

Sources: Economic Times, TechCrunch, BusinessWorld, NewsBytes, PitchBook