Latest news with #ThinkingMachinesLab
TechCrunch
6 days ago
- Business
- TechCrunch
OpenAI, Thinking Machines Lab, and the built-in chaos of a $2B seed round
OpenAI's former chief technology officer, Mira Murati, just raised one of the largest seed rounds in history. Murati secured $2 billion in that seed round for Thinking Machines Lab — a startup so early, it hasn't even revealed what it's working on yet. The move is raising eyebrows across Silicon Valley, and it's only the latest in a wave of top researchers splintering off from OpenAI to chase their own AI moonshots. Today, on TechCrunch's Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Rebecca Bellan and Anthony Ha break down what's fueling the OpenAI talent shuffle, investor enthusiasm, and a former employee's behind-the-scenes peek inside the company. Either way, the team agrees: seed rounds really have changed. Listen to the full episode to hear more news from the week, including: The drama around xAI's safety practices keeps coming, with researchers from OpenAI and Anthropic publicly criticizing Musk's AI startup over Grok's latest scandals and what they reveal about broader AI safety gaps Uber investing hundreds of millions into premium robotaxis with Lucid and Nuro. Kirsten and Rebecca have some thoughts on whether this is a smart move or more AV déjà vu The AI coding assistant sector is heating up with major acquisitions. Devin-maker Cognition acquired Windsurf just days after Google poached the latter's leadership in what's becoming a pattern of reverse acquihires And Jack Dorsey's latest string of vibe-coding projects and nonprofit hacker collective, all pointing back to his long-standing push for decentralized tech Equity will be back for you next week, so don't miss it! Equity is TechCrunch's flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Nvidia and Mira Murati's Quiet Collaboration
At Carnegie Mellon, Mira Murati revealed that her new AI startup, Thinking Machines Lab, has raised a jaw?dropping two billion dollars. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz and heavyweights like Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), AMD (NASDAQ:AMD), ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) and Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO), the round underscores serious faith in her vision. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 10 Warning Signs with CSCO. She shared on X that the lab is building a multimodal AI system that understands our world through conversation, images and collaborative workflows. Murati hinted that a first product will arrive in the coming months, complete with open?source tools for researchers and startups to customize. Murati's track record speaks volumes. As OpenAI's CTO she helped launch ChatGPT, DALLE, Codex and Sora. Before that she was steering product at Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) for the Model X. Now she's aiming to blend openness with enterprise?grade performance. With prototypes just around the corner and one of AI's most respected leaders at the helm, Thinking Machines Lab could shake up both academic research and commercial AI development. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
AU Financial Review
16-07-2025
- Business
- AU Financial Review
Aussie investors in record Silicon Valley AI deal
Paul Bassat's Square Peg Capital is an investor in one of the largest and most competitive seed funding rounds in Silicon Valley history: a $US2 billion capital raising for Mira Murati's secretive artificial intelligence start-up, Thinking Machines Lab. Murati is one of the highest-profile figures in San Francisco's big-money AI scene, and briefly replaced Sam Altman as chief executive of OpenAI when he was sacked in late 2023. She resigned as OpenAI's chief technology officer last October, and has since had investors scrambling to buy into her new company, which is valued at $US12 billion ($18.4 billion) after the deal.
Business Insider
16-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
‘Don't Miss the Rise,' Mira Murati's AI Startup Hits $12B Valuation Backed by Tech Giants
Thinking Machines Lab, the AI startup founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, has secured $2 billion in funding, raising its valuation to $12 billion. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm, with backing from major players like Nvidia (NVDA), AMD (AMD), Cisco (CSCO), Accel, ServiceNow (NOW), and Jane Street. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. Make smarter investment decisions with TipRanks' Smart Investor Picks, delivered to your inbox every week. This capital injection marks one of the largest seed rounds in Silicon Valley history, reflecting the strong investor appetite for new AI research labs. Murati Hints at Open-Source AI and Research Focus Founded less than a year ago, Thinking Machines has yet to release a product, but Murati hinted at the company's first product in a recent post on the X social media platform. She stated that the startup plans to reveal its work, which will include a 'significant open source offering,' in the 'next couple of months.' Murati also indicated that the product will support researchers and startups focused on building custom AI models. Nearly two-thirds of the team consists of former OpenAI talent, such as key researchers John Schulman, Barret Zoph, and Luke Metz. Murati's ability to attract top-tier talent and capital has drawn comparisons to other leading AI labs like Anthropic and Alphabet-owned (GOOGL) Google DeepMind. Even with its massive $12 billion valuation, Thinking Machines Lab faces tough competition from AI giants like Meta (META), Google DeepMind, Anthropic, and OpenAI, who are pouring billions into advanced research. Which AI Stock Is Best for Investing? Using , we see that six companies have garnered Wall Street's Strong Buy consensus rating, with analysts seeing the largest upside potential in Micron (MU) stock.
The Verge
15-07-2025
- Business
- The Verge
Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab raised $2 billion.
Posted Jul 15, 2025 at 6:38 PM UTC Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab raised $2 billion. OpenAI's ex-CTO, who also briefly stepped into the CEO role during Sam Altman's high-profile ouster, said Tuesday that a16z led the round, with participation from NVIDIA, Accel, ServiceNow, CISCO, AMD, and Jane Street. She added that the company would share its first product 'in the next couple months.'
