Thinking Machines Lab alcança valuation de US$ 10 bilhões enquanto o clube de ex-funcionários da OpenAI continua a impressionar

O laboratório de IA Thinking Machines Lab acaba de atingir uma marca histórica: uma avaliação de US$ 10 bilhões. Fundado por ex-funcionários da OpenAI, o grupo prova mais uma vez que o talento por trás dos gigantes da inteligência artificial vale seu peso em ouro—ou melhor, em tokens.

O que começou como um experimento de ex-funcionários da OpenAI agora se transformou em um dos unicórnios mais valiosos do setor. E enquanto os investidores tradicionais ainda tentam entender o que é um 'modelo de linguagem', esses fundadores estão redefinindo o jogo financeiro—com um toque de ironia cripto.

Será que os VCs finalmente aprenderam a diferença entre blockchain e um balanço patrimonial? O Thinking Machines Lab certamente não está esperando para descobrir.

Billions raised, no products required

Thinking Machines Lab, an AI startup founded by the former OpenAI CTO, Mira Murati, just raised nearly $2 billion. The company is also currently valued at $10 billion.

The deal was led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Accel and Conviction Partners, and is especially remarkable as it doesn’t include a product. Yes, Thinking Machines is yet to launch a single offering. The company has also offered minimal public details about its plans, but has stated that it is focused on building AI that fosters more “human-AI collaboration.”

For this group of alumni, the openAI name appears to be more than convincing enough for investors. OpenAI’s cofounder, John Schulman and the former research VP, Barret Zoph are also on Murati’s team at Thinking Machines Lab.

OpenAI alums dominate the billion-dollar startup club

Thinking Machines Lab is only one of the startups run by former OpenAI employees to experience billion-dollar success. OpenAI alums and siblings, Dario and Daniela Amodei, founded Anthropic together, and the AI firm has secured billions in funding since its launch, with a valuation of $61.5 billion as of March 2025.

Safe Superintelligence (SSI), founded by OpenAI’s former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever has raised $2 billion despite reports that the company currently lacks a product or clear plans for the future. Its valuation sits at $32 billion.

Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine co-founded by OpenAI’s previous researcher Aravind Srinivas, attracted investments from tech giants like Jeff Bezos and Nvidia. It is currently raising another $1 billion at an $18 billion valuation.

Less mainstream companies like Stem AI, Eureka Labs, Living Carbon, Prosper robotics, Cresta and Covariant are also projects that involve previous OpenAI employees. These companies are attracting funding from top-tier firms including Andreessen Horowitz.

The OpenAI alumni network is currently well-positioned to define artificial intelligence’s direction.

The group’s influence extends into Big Tech as well. In late 2024, Amazon hired multiple founders from the robotics startup, Covariant, which was founded by three OpenAI alums, and brought on much of the company’s team.

Adept AI’s former CEO, David Luan, who now leads Amazon’s AI agents division, belongs to the highly coveted OpenAI alumni club. Meanwhile, Margaret Jennings, who worked at OpenAI in 2022 and 2023 before leaving to co-found Kindo, is now the head of product and research at the French AI startup, Mistral. Kindo raised over $27 million in funding while Kindo was at the helm.

Even Elon Musk’s xAI, a company now valued at $113 billion after it acquired X, was co-founded in part by Kyle Kosic, who previously worked on OpenAI infrastructure.

Cryptopolitan Academy: Tired of market swings? Learn how DeFi can help you build steady passive income. Register Now