Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab valued at $10bn after $2bn fundraising

Mira Murati, former CTO of OpenAI, has secured $2 billion in seed funding for her new AI startup, Thinking Machines Lab, which is now valued at $10 billion. This deal marks one of the largest initial funding rounds in Silicon Valley history. Based in San Francisco, the six-month-old company has remained secretive about its projects, leveraging Murati's reputation to attract investors. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with additional backing from Conviction Partners. Murati, recognized for her work on ChatGPT, Dall-E, and Tesla’s Model X, has assembled a strong team of former OpenAI personnel including co-founder John Schulman. Although details about the company’s exact focus remain unclear, it has expressed a broad mission to make AI systems more understandable and customizable. Some insiders suggest the team is exploring artificial general intelligence. Despite the lack of a defined product or financial roadmap, investor interest remains high, mirroring similar funding trends seen with other OpenAI alumni ventures. Murati holds majority board voting power, giving her ultimate decision-making authority within the company.