Mira Murati, the former CTO of OpenAI who quietly departed the company and largely vanished from public view, reappeared on June 4 at Bloomberg Tech 2026 in San Francisco. It was her first major media appearance in 18 months.
She wasn’t there to reminisce. Murati used the stage to lay out the roadmap for Thinking Machines Lab, the AI startup she co-founded and now leads as CEO, a company that has already secured a record-breaking $2 billion seed round and is reportedly in discussions that could push its valuation to $50 billion.
From OpenAI exile to $50 billion ambitions
Thinking Machines Lab launched in February 2025 with a $10 billion valuation, making its $2 billion seed round the largest in history at the time.
The company has since locked in heavyweight backing. Nvidia announced a multiyear chip supply agreement with Thinking Machines in March 2026, committing to provide its upcoming Vera Rubin accelerators. Google Cloud is also listed among the startup’s significant partners.
