Former OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati's artificial intelligence startup, Thinking Machines Lab, has closed a historic $2 billion seed funding round, making it the largest such round in Silicon Valley history. The July 15 deal, led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Nvidia, Accel, ServiceNow, Cisco, AMD, and Jane Street, values the less-than-year-old company at $12 billion.
The funding represents a remarkable achievement for a startup that has yet to publicly disclose its product roadmap. Murati, who gained prominence as OpenAI's interim CEO during Sam Altman's brief departure in November 2023, left the company in September 2024 and founded Thinking Machines in February 2025.
The startup has already assembled a formidable technical team, recruiting several former OpenAI colleagues including research executive Barret Zoph as CTO, co-founder John Schulman, and researcher Luke Metz. This talent acquisition signals the company's ambition to compete directly with established AI leaders.
Market dynamics underscore the intense investor appetite for AI ventures with proven leadership. Initial reports in June suggested the company was seeking $2 billion at a $10 billion valuation, but the final deal closed at $12 billion—a 20 per cent premium that reflects escalating competition among venture capital firms.
In her first public statement since the company's launch, Murati offered glimpses into the startup's direction. Writing on social media platform X, she announced plans to unveil the first product "in the next couple months" and confirmed a "significant open source offering" designed for researchers and startups building custom AI models. She also committed to sharing research findings to help the broader community understand frontier AI systems.
The funding milestone occurs amid heightened competition in the AI sector, where companies are racing to develop next-generation models and applications. Industry analysts note that while the valuation appears aggressive for a pre-revenue startup, Murati's track record and team credentials justify investor confidence.
The deal's structure and investor lineup—featuring both venture capital firms and strategic technology partners—suggests Thinking Machines is positioning itself for rapid scaling and potential enterprise partnerships. The involvement of hardware companies like Nvidia and AMD indicates the startup's work may require significant computational resources.