Mira Murati’s new artificial intelligence startup, “Thinking Machines Lab,” has achieved a staggering $12 billion valuation after successfully closing a significant “pre-seed” funding round. Murati, formerly the CTO of OpenAI, secured $2 billion in initial investments, according to TechCrunch.
Key Investors and Company Focus
The substantial funding round attracted major investors, including microchip giants Nvidia and AMD, along with prominent venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Accel. Also participating was Jane Street, known for its ventures in fintech and artificial intelligence.
Thinking Machines Lab, headquartered in San Francisco, is dedicated to developing multi-modal AI that interacts naturally with humans through conversation, vision, and collaborative efforts.
Upcoming Product and Team
Murati plans to unveil the company’s first product within a few months, which will feature an open-source component. This open-source aspect aims to support academic research and developers seeking to create customized AI models.
The 36-year-old Murati has assembled a powerful team comprising former employees from leading AI and tech companies, including OpenAI, Google, Meta, and Mistral. During her tenure at OpenAI, she played a crucial role in the development of products such as ChatGPT, DALL-E, and the voice modality. She also served as interim CEO during the internal leadership changes in late 2023.
