Mira Murati, the former chief technology officer of OpenAI and a central figure behind ChatGPT, is launching her own AI startup, and she’s doing it in blockbuster fashion.
Thinking Machines Lab, the AI company founded by Murati early this year, is raising a $2 billion seed round at a $10 billion valuation.
According to Business Insider, the round is being led by Andreessen Horowitz, with support from Sequoia Capital and other top-tier investors. Those interested in backing the venture are being asked to commit a minimum of $50 million per check, a staggering requirement for what would be one of the largest seed rounds in startup history.
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A High-Stakes Bet On Next-Gen AI
The startup’s ambition is to reshape the way artificial intelligence is built and understood. According to the company’s website, Thinking Machines Lab will focus on making AI “more widely understood, customizable, and generally capable,” highlighting a shift toward both transparency and user control.
That positioning places the company in direct conceptual competition with AI giants like OpenAI, Google’s Gemini, Elon Musk‘s xAI, and Anthropic, which are all currently racing to define the next generation of large language models and autonomous systems, Business Insider reported.
Murati spent more than six years at OpenAI, contributing to the development of ChatGPT and other advanced AI research projects. According to Business Insider, she was briefly appointed interim CEO in November 2023, after the board unexpectedly removed Sam Altman, a decision that triggered internal upheaval across the company. Following Altman’s reinstatement just days later, Murati returned to her position as chief technology officer.
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Backed By Industry Legends And Technical All-Stars
Andreessen Horowitz, the legendary venture capital firm that previously backed Facebook and Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB), Financial Times reported, is leading the round alongside Sequoia Capital, known for its investments in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), and WhatsApp, Fortune says. Their involvement may signal strong institutional belief in Murati’s long-term potential.
Thinking Machines Lab is also assembling a brain trust of former OpenAI engineers and scientists. According to The Founders Magazine, team members include Bob McGrew, former head of research at OpenAI, Alec Radford, one of the minds behind the original GPT, Barret Zoph, a top researcher on ChatGPT, and John Schulman, co-lead of the Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback technique that powers modern AI safety.
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A $50M Entry Ticket To The Future Of AI
Few early-stage startups command minimum investments in the tens of millions. According to Business Insider, Murati’s $50 million threshold is a practical necessity since training large models and building scalable infrastructure requires capital on a massive scale.
If the raise closes as expected, Thinking Machines Lab will stand beside OpenAI and Anthropic as one of the most well-capitalized AI startups in the world, Business Insider says, and one of the only ones led by a woman.
With technical vision, elite backing, and a mission to open up the black box of AI, Murati’s next chapter may reshape the way the world builds and interacts with intelligent systems.
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This article Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati’s $2B AI Startup Thinking Machines Lab Sets $50M Investment Minimum, Backed By Andreessen Horowitz And Sequoia Capital originally appeared on Benzinga.com
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