July 15 (Reuters) - Thinking Machines Lab, the

artificial intelligence startup founded by former OpenAI

executive Mira Murati, said on Tuesday it has raised about $2

billion at a valuation of $12 billion in a funding round led by

venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

The fundraise also saw participation from AI chip giant

Nvidia ( NVDA ), Accel, ServiceNow ( NOW ), Cisco ( CSCO ), AMD

and Jane Street, the startup said.

The massive funding round for a company launched only in

February, with no revenue or products yet, underscores Murati's

ability to attract investors in a sector where top executives

have become coveted targets in an escalating talent war.

"We're excited that in the next couple months we will be

able to share our first product, which will include a

significant open source component and be useful for researchers

and startups developing custom model," CEO Murati said in a post

on the X social media platform.

Reuters had reported in April Andreessen Horowitz was in

talks to lead an outsized early-stage funding round.

Thinking Machines has said it wants to build artificial

intelligence systems that are safer, more reliable and aimed at

a broader number of applications than rivals. Nearly two-thirds

of its team at launch comprised of former OpenAI employees.

Murati, who started Thinking Machines after an abrupt exit

from OpenAI last September, is among a growing list of former

executives from the ChatGPT maker who have launched AI startups.

Another two, Dario Amodei's Anthropic and Ilya Sutskever's

Safe Superintelligence, have attracted former OpenAI researchers

and raised billions of dollars in funding.

Investor enthusiasm toward new AI startups has stayed

strong, despite some questions about tech industry spending.

That helped U.S. startup funding surge nearly 76% to $162.8

billion in the first half of 2025, with AI accounting for about

64.1% of the total deal value, according to a Pitchbook report.