Thinking Machine, the stealthy AI startup founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, has closed one of the largest seed funding rounds in Silicon Valley history—raising $2 billion and reaching a $10 billion valuation, according to reports.
The company has kept its mission largely under wraps, but insiders say Murati’s name recognition and leadership pedigree played a central role in attracting top-tier investors.
Murati, who left OpenAI in September 2023 and briefly served as interim CEO during the Sam Altman leadership shakeup, launched Thinking Machine in February 2024. At the time, she described the company’s vision as advancing AI through “solid foundations, open science, and practical applications.”
The massive funding round marks a significant milestone in the wave of new AI ventures launched by former OpenAI executives. Other breakaway efforts include Safe Superintelligence, led by former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, and Periodic Labs, started by ex-VP of research Liam Fedus.
As the AI industry continues evolving from buzzword to backbone of enterprise infrastructure, the scale of investment in Thinking Machine signals investor confidence in Murati’s ability to shape the next era of AI development.
