AI startup Pondering Machines Lab has raised contemporary capital of roughly $2bn in a funding spherical that valued the corporate at $12bn.
The funding spherical was led by enterprise capital agency Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Different buyers corresponding to Nvidia, Accel, ServiceNow, Cisco, AMD, and Jane Avenue additionally participated.
Pondering Machines Lab was based by former OpenAI government Mira Murati in February. She confirmed the fundraising in a put up on social media platform X (beforehand Twitter).
“We’re constructing multimodal AI that works with the way you naturally work together with the world – via dialog, via sight, via the messy manner we collaborate,” she mentioned within the put up.
“We’re excited that within the subsequent couple months we’ll be capable of share our first product, which is able to embody a major open supply element and be helpful for researchers and startups creating customized fashions. Quickly, we’ll additionally share our greatest science to assist the analysis group higher perceive frontier AI programs.”
The startup seeks to develop AI programs which are safer, extra dependable, and relevant to a wider vary of makes use of than rivals. At its inception, almost two-thirds of the workforce comprised former OpenAI workers.
The fundraising comes as investor curiosity in new AI startups stays sturdy, regardless of some business considerations about tech spending.
This enthusiasm contributed to a 76% improve in US startup funding, reaching $162.8bn within the first half of 2025. AI accounted for almost 64.1% of the overall deal worth, Reuters reported, citing information from Pitchbook.
A number of weeks in the past, Elon Musk-backed AI firm xAI raised $5bn in debt and secured an extra $5bn via an fairness funding.
It’ll use the proceeds to help its improvement of superior AI options.
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