A16z eyes leading mega round in former OpenAI CTO’s startup Thinking Machines, sources say

Written by Anna Tong and Crystal is

SANGISCO (Reuters) – Silicon Valley Capital Capital Andressen Horowitz is holding talks to lead an early financing round from the main Openai Mira Murrati, according to four sources familiar with the matter.

The sources said that the start -up company, called Thinking Machines Lab, could be estimated at $ 10 billion in the tour, making it one of the most emerging companies of artificial intelligence in the world, despite its launch only in February. The company, which does not have revenues or products yet, is the latest participant in the crowded space for companies that build the II obstetric models. Thinking machines said that she wants to build safer and more reliable artificial smart systems and aims to a broader number of competitors.

Reuters couldn’t learn how of Andresson Horwitz in investment talks in this tour. Business Insider said earlier this week that the final amount of the entire round could be close to two billion dollars. Another source said another heavy VC, Sequoia Capital, is also holding talks to join the financing round.

Thinking machines laboratory refused to comment. Andressen Horowitz and Sequoia did not immediately respond to the suspension requests.

The reception shows that the enthusiasm of the investor towards new startups in artificial intelligence is still very high, although some questions about spending on the technology industry. A preliminary round of this size was not unprecedented: In September, former Openai Ilya Sutskever collected a billion dollars on the basis of his reputation in this field.

Andressen Horowitz, known as A16Z, manufactured large bets in artificial intelligence, supported competitors to the heavy Openai AI. She participated in large financing rounds of the startups of the Emerging Amnesty International Models, including Illon, XAI, Sutskever Safe Superintelligence and Mistral based in France. It is currently collecting $ 20 billion in investments in the following stage in artificial intelligence companies. If it is successful, it will be the largest box in the company’s history.

MURATI announced the Machines Machines Laboratory in February with a team of about 30 researchers and engineers of artificial intelligence, and two thirds of them were former Openai, indicating MURATI’s ability to fish in the talent of the previous employer. Since then, the other prominent former Openai employees have joined other thinking machines as consultants, including former chief research employee in Openai, Bob McGu, and the main researcher of many AI’s leading models in Openai, Ellac Raford.

In Openai, MURATI spent six years to lead transformational projects such as ChatGPT and Dall-E, and he was a major figure in the OpenAi partnership with billions of dollars with Microsoft, the largest financial supporter of her. It often appeared alongside the CEO of Openai Germans as a general face of the ChatGPT maker.