Thinking Machines Lab, an AI startup founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, has raised US$2 billion in a seed funding round.

The Financial Times reports the six-month-old company is now valued at US$10 billion.

The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Conviction Partners.

Details about the startup’s projects or technology have not been disclosed.

Several former OpenAI colleagues, including co-founder John Schulman, have joined Murati at Thinking Machines Lab.

🔗 Source: TechCrunch

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ The emergence of an “OpenAI mafia” mirrors Silicon Valley’s historical talent patterns

Former OpenAI employees have launched at least 15 notable AI startups that have collectively raised nearly $8 billion in funding 1.

This pattern resembles the “PayPal Mafia” phenomenon, where PayPal alumni went on to found companies like Tesla, LinkedIn, and YouTube 2.

Key examples include Anthropic, Safe Superintelligence, Perplexity, and Thinking Machines Lab, which have collectively attracted significant investment 1.

The concentration of such funding in startups founded by former OpenAI employees suggests investors are betting on talent and track records rather than proven products.

This talent diaspora is creating a more competitive AI landscape, with former colleagues now becoming competitors and potentially accelerating innovation through different approaches to AI development.

2️⃣ Unprecedented valuations reveal investors’ extraordinary appetite for AI despite market uncertainties

Thinking Machines Lab’s $10 billion valuation after just six months of existence represents one of the most aggressive seed-stage valuations in tech history 1.

For context, Airbnb was valued at just $1.5 billion after three years of operation, and Uber reached a $10 billion valuation only after five years of demonstrated growth 3.

Recent Thinking Machines Lab developments