Former OpenAI CTO Murati’s New AI Startup Reportedly Closing In On $9B Valuation

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Thinking Machines Lab, a new startup by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, aims to raise $1 billion at a $9 billion valuation, Business Insider reported. If the deal closes, the company would be just the latest AI startup with ties to OpenAI to land a big investment. It would also be part of a growing trend of early-stage startups being minted as unicorns.

The round is not yet finalized and the details could change, Business Insider reported. It did not provide any information on potential investors in the company, which just emerged from stealth this month.

Murati left OpenAI in September after more than six years at the startup, including a brief stint as its interim CEO. She has recruited some 20 former OpenAI researchers to Thinking Machines, Reuters reported earlier this month. Other employees previously spent time at rivals Meta and Mistral AI.

It’s not clear if the company has previously raised funding.

On its website, Thinking Machines says it is open source and aims to create “more flexible, adaptable, and personalized AI systems.”

“We see enormous potential for AI to help in every field of work,” the company said. “While current systems excel at programming and mathematics, we’re building AI that can adapt to the full spectrum of human expertise and enable a broader spectrum of applications.”

Feeding the AI machine

Thinking Machines’ raise would mark the latest large funding deal for an AI startup by a founder with OpenAI ties.

Anthropic, a Google-backed OpenAI rival also founded by some former OpenAI employees, is reportedly closing in on a fresh $3.5 billion funding round that would value it at $61.5 billion. Just last month, it was reported that the startup raised a fresh $1 billion from previous investor Google. It has raised $14.7 billion to date, per Crunchbase.

Elon Musk’s generative AI startup xAI is in talks to raise another $10 billion at a $75 billion valuation, Bloomberg reported earlier this month. The company most recently raised $6 billion in November. Musk was an OpenAI founder who left the company early on after a still-ongoing and bitter feud and legal battle with CEO Sam Altman. The startup has now raised $12.4 billion in known funding, per Crunchbase.

In September, AI research lab Safe Superintelligence, co-founded by former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, raised $1 billion from investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital at a $5 billion valuation.

And OpenAI itself is reportedly closing in on a new $40 billion funding from SoftBank that will value it at an astounding $260 billion. The Microsoft-backed ChatGPT creator has raised $21.9 billion already from investors, per Crunchbase.

If Thinking Machines Lab successfully closes the funding, it would also join a growing trend of early-stage startups (seed, Series A or Series B) achieving unicorn valuations, often within mere months of their founding. AI startups have been particularly prominent in the trend of early-stage unicorns.