Category: AI Funding

AI Marketing Startup Alembic AI raises $145 million from Accenture and WndrCo at a $645 million valuation

November 13th, 2025
Wall Street Journal is reporting that AI Marketing startup Alembic AI is raising $145 million at a $645 million valuation in a Series B round.

Reference: https://www.wsj.com/articles/accenture-and-jeffrey-katzenbergs-wndrco-invest-in-ai-marketing-startup-0d128cdf

Alembic AI Fundraising Rounds
1. Series A in 2024 -> WndrCo led a round that valued Alembic AI at $49 million
2. Series B in Nov 2025 – $145 million raised at $645 million valuation from Accenture, growth equity firm Prysm Capital, VC firm SLW, and Jeffrey Katzenberg’s WndrCo
WndrCo has introduced Alembic AI to new clients, including Mars and Delta Air Lines.

Alembic AI’s first customer was Nvidia. So interesting.

Lots of Good Information at Silicon Angle -> Alembic Technologies raises $145M and buys an Nvidia-powered supercomputer to accelerate ‘causal AI’ – SiliconANGLE

Updates from Alembic Employees on Linked In

Alembic AI on Linked In and Employee posts ->
1. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:share:7394789065717551104/
2. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:share:7394766640162234368/
Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab AI startup raising funds at $50 Billion Valuation

November 13th, 2025
Thinking Machines, which is less than a year old, is raising money at a $50 billion valuation.

Thinking Machines 2nd Website -> Thinking Machines Lab | Building the Future of Collaborative AI

The valuation might even rise to $55 to $60 Billion.

Reference: Murati’s Thinking Machines in Funding Talks at $50 Billion Value – Bloomberg

Who is Mira Murati?

Mira Murati is the Ex Chief Technological Officer of OpenAI.

She is co-founder and CEO of Thinking Machines Lab.

What is thinking Machines Lab?

Thinking Machines Lab is an AI startup founded by Mira Murati, Ex CTO of Open AI.

Ms. Murati had left OpenAI in September 2024 and formally announced Thinking Machines Lab in Feb 2025. The Thinking Machines Lab website says it was founded in Feb 2025.

Murati is CEO, Barret Zoph is CTO and John Schulman is Chief Scientist. Zoph left OpenAI in September. Schulman departed OpenAI in August for Anthropic, and then left Anthropic for Thinking Machines Lab.

This is interesting -> One of the key gaps that Murati wants to address is the gulf between the capabilities of AI systems and humans’ ability to understand and use them.

Why is Thinking Machines being valued at $50 billion roughly a year after launching as a company?

Well, firstly, we do have an AI Bubble.

Secondly, the Top 100 to Top 300 people in AI are valued very highly, and their startups are always valued very highly.

As Thinking Machines Lab has Murati (former CTO of Open AI) and other OpenAI people, it has many of the Top 100/Top 300 AI minds. They also have (according to their website) a world-class team of 30 renowned researchers and engineers from Open AI, Google, DeepMind, Meta, and Mistral.

Create one of the best groups of Top 100/Top 300 people in AI and you’re guaranteed to see very high valuations.

Thinking Machines Launch & Funding Timeline

Thinking Machines rough timeline
1. Founded Feb 2025
2. Formally announced Feb 2025, with Mira Murati as CEO, Barret Zoph as CTO, and John Schulman as Chief Scientist
3. Raised $2 Billion at a $10 Billion valuation in July 2025. Interesting that even their official website says ‘reported $10 billion valuation’ and does not disclose the actual valuation
4. Raising Unknown Amount at a $50 Billion valuation in November 2025
Why Safe Superintelligence’s $5 Billion Valuation is justified

September 4th, 2024
News broke today that SSI (Safe Superintelligence), Ilya Sutskever’s new AI startup, has raised $1 Billion at a $5 billion valuation.

SSI was started 3 months ago. Ilya Sutskever is OpenAI’s former chief scientist. He left OpenAI after concerns about the direction of OpenAI.

Reuters -> Exclusive: OpenAI co-founder Sutskever’s new safety-focused AI startup SSI raises $1 billion | Reuters

Ars Technica -> Sutskever strikes AI gold with billion-dollar backing for superintelligent AI | Ars Technica

There are, obviously, some very shocked people. A 3 month old startup, regardless of the pedigree of the co-founder, raising $1 billion at a $5 billion valuation has no precedent. In this post we will explain why this is not a crazy valuation.

Ilya Sutskever is perhaps the most Prized Researcher in all of AI

He was the Chief Scientist at OpenAI and can claim to be as responsible as anyone for OpenAI reaching a $100 billion valuation.

It is not impossible that his new company reaches a similar or higher valuation. In fact, given the massive amount of liquidity in AI funding, it is very likely that his new company will reach a $100 billion valuation.

In that environment, investing $1 billion at a $5 billion valuation for 20% of SSI is a very smart funding move.

The Most Likely Scenario – SSI becomes a $100 Billion Company

The $1 billion investment becomes $20 billion.

This is the most likely scenario because of how hot AI is, and because by focusing on a very long term goal (Safe Superintelligence), SSI have completely removed all pressure and milestones.

As Silicon Valley jokes – the best time to raise funds is pre-revenue. You can sell anything. The next few rounds will be raising money at higher and higher valuations – Based on the promise of SSI achieving Safe Superintelligence. The seed round investors will have ample opportunities to sell some/all of their stake at very high valuations.

The Best Case Scenario – SSI becomes a $1 Trillion to $10 Trillion Company and ONe of the Top 5/Top 10 Winners in AI

The $1 Billion Investment becomes $200 Billion to $2 Trillion.

It is a once in a life time investing opportunity for anyone with $1 billion to spare.

The Worst Case Scenario – SSI fails

The $1 Billion Investment goes up in smoke. It’s just $1 billion. Lots and lots of Investment Funds and VCs can spare a billion. Even many billionaires can afford to burn $1 billion for such an asymmetric risk to reward opportunity

You yourself would invest $1 Billion at a $5 Billion valuation if you had $1 Billion lying around

If you had upwards of a $5 billion net worth, with $1 billion available to invest. If you had the chance to invest in a company which
1. Most likely will shoot to $100 Billion Valuation
2. Has a shot at achieving $1 Trillion to $10 Trillion Valuation
You would happily invest $1 billion. These kind of investment opportunities are asymmetric risk to reward and almost never show up. SSI is working on solving (as they put it) -> The most important technical challenge of our age.

If they succeed, the $1 billion you invest will become worth more than the richest man on the planet.
Ilya Sutskever’s new company, SSI (Safe Superintelligence) raises $1 Billion at a $5 Billion Valuation

September 4th, 2024
3 months after launching, Safe Superintelligence (SSI) has raised $1 Billion at a $5 Billion Valuation.

Reuters -> https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/openai-co-founder-sutskevers-new-safety-focused-ai-startup-ssi-raises-1-billion-2024-09-04/

Ars Technica -> Sutskever strikes AI gold with billion-dollar backing for superintelligent AI | Ars Technica

Details of Safe Superintelligence’s $1 Billion Funding Seed Round
1. SSI launched 3 months ago
2. Funding is $1 Billion at a $5 Billion Valuation
  - Please note that SSI has not confirmed the valuation
3. SSI Co-Founders are Ilya Sutskever (Co-Founder and former Chief Scientist of OpenAI), Daniel Gross, and Daniel Levy
4. SSI is an American company with offices in Palo Alto and Tel Aviv
5. SSI says its sole focus is to achieve Safe Superintelligence
6. SSI says their business model means safety, security, and progress are all insulated from short-term commercial pressures
  - Seems exactly the opposite of what was happening at OpenAI (allegedly) and which caused Ilya Sutskever and Board to try and fire the OpenAI CEO
Safe Superintelligence is Hiring

This is the Tweet with link to the Hiring Website -> SSI Inc. on X: “SSI is building a straight shot to safe superintelligence. We’ve raised $1B from NFDG, a16z, Sequoia, DST Global, and SV Angel. We’re hiring: https://t.co/DmFWnrc1Kr” / X

This is the SSI Job Application page for Member of Technical Staff -> Member of Technical Staff @ SSI (ashbyhq.com)

As good a time as any to apply for an AI job. As SSI say –

We offer an opportunity to do your life’s work and help solve the most important technical challenge of our age.

Now is the time. Join Us.
OpenAI raising money at $100 Billion Valuation, 6 months after raising at $80 Billion valuation; Thoughts on OpenAI’s $100 Billion Valuation

September 1st, 2024
On Feb 16th, 2024, OpenAI raised money at a $80 Billion valuation, nearly tripling its valuation in 10 months -> OpenAI Completes Deal That Values the Company at $80 Billion – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

A few days ago, end of August 2024, we found out that OpenAI is raising money at a $100 Billion valuation -> OpenAI Eyes $100 Billion Valuation – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

OpenAI’s Latest Funding – The Details

Thanks to CNBC for these details -> OpenAI in talks to raise funding that would value it at more than $100 billion (cnbc.com)
1. Valuation over $100 Billion
2. Thrive Capital would lead the round and invest $1 Billion
3. Microsoft would also participate
4. Nvidia and Apple are rumored to be interested. No confirmation, yet, that they will participate
5. OpenAI’s annualized revenue has reportedly grown to $2 billion a year
11 Thoughts on OpenAI’s $100 Billion Valuation
1. Given the sky-high valuations of the other frontrunners (Anthropic, Mistral AI), it is not surprising that the market leader, OpenAI, would be valued at over $100 Billion
2. It is super smart of OpenAI to keep raising loads of money. It has some competitors that are very well funded
  - It also has some large tech competitors (Google, Facebook/Meta) that have immense warchests
3. Techcrunch says OpenAI is on track to lose $5 billion in 2024 -> OpenAI reportedly in talks to close a new funding round at $100B+ valuation | TechCrunch
  - If this is true, then OpenAI definitely needs a lot of funding, and ASAP
4. To us it is very interesting that there is so much funding flowing into AI companies. Everyone sure as heck seems to be thinking that AI taking over the world is a foregone conclusion
  - Even more interesting – Everyone seems to think that one or more of the current AI startups will be the Big Winners in AI
5. OpenAI’s $100 Billion valuation would eclipse Anthropic and MistralAI’s valuations of $15 Billion and $6 Billion
  - We do think OpenAI is more valuable. However, by this much? Is OpenAI really worth 5 times Anthropic & Mistral combined?
6. Nvidia and Apple are rumored to be very interested -> OpenAI latest funding tempts 3 most valuable technology companies | Tech News – Business Standard (business-standard.com)
  - Microsoft is already confirmed to participate
  - Basically, everyone wants a piece of OpenAI
7. This funding round will massively increase the pressure on other AI startups. If the leader, OpenAI, keeps raising at very high valuations, it will be hard for everyone else to keep up
8. Wonder what Google and Meta/Facebook think of this Funding Round
  - It would seem that Microsoft and Apple are putting their weight behind OpenAI
  - To be quite frank, OpenAI by itself would have a hard time competing against the massive resources of Facebook/Meta and Google
  - However, if Microsoft and Apple keep funding OpenAI then OpenAI can stay at #1 for a long time
    
    Then Meta/Facebook and Google’s attempts to catch up might not work
    
    For Google, especially, this is an existential threat as SearchGPT (OpenAI’s upcoming search engine powered by AI) could wreck Google’s search dominance
9. AI moves so fast. This entire market space is surreal. Things move so incredibly fast. It makes even crypto seem slow
10. It is super funny that OpenAI is now perhaps the least ‘open’ and least ‘non profit’ company you could imagine
11. OpenAI is a beautiful opportunity for Apple and Microsoft to put Google in the grave
  - Steve Jobs’ hatred of Google is well known
  - Microsoft’s attempts to kill Google are also nearly as well known
  - OpenAI presents the best chance in decades to finally kill Google
We really do live in the most interesting timeline. There is never a dull day in AI.
The Information informs us that Ex Googlers who started AI Startups are finding out Startups are Tricky

August 26th, 2024
This is quite an interesting article (Subscription blocked) -> Ex-Googlers Discover That Startups Are Hard — The Information

It talks about
1. French AI developer, H, which has 5 co-founders (4 of them Ex Googlers). How 3 of the 5 co-founders have left after ‘operational and business disagreements’
  - This is despite just raising $220 million from investors in a seed round
2. Acquisitions of Inflection, Adept, and Character. All founded mostly by Ex Googlers. Each company less than 3 years old
3. Possible acquisition of Reka by Snowflake, which fell apart. The acquisition price was rumored to be $1 Billion
This is very interesting because the definition of ‘hard’ can be relative.

All these Ex Googlers became multi-millionaires, in 1 to 3 years. Is that hard?

If H raised $220 million and 3 of the 5 co-founders left. Is that really hard for them? This was the seed round.

Assuming reasonable estimates of $400 million valuation and each co-founder still having 5% to 10% equity -> Each became worth $20 Million to $40 Million.

How is that ‘finding out startups are hard’?

Same for the companies that were acquired. The co-founders probably made a few million each. Now they go work a cushy job at a big technology company, probably getting paid half a million a year.

How on Earth is that ‘hard’?

Starting an AI startup is the least ‘hard’ thing you can do right now

Firstly, VCs and Investors are dying to pour money into anything AI related.

Secondly, valuations are absolutely absurd.

Thirdly, large tech companies are doing acquisitions and partnerships like crazy.

Fourthly, the time frame for everything is absolutely crazy. A seed round of $220 million for H is even crazier than seed round of $132 million for Mistral AI. When is the last time, outside of AI startups, you’ve heard of a $220 million ‘Seed’ round?

AI Startups are the best thing any Entrepreneur can do right now

Unless you have some area you are very passionate about, and have great Product Market Fit and a great product in that area, the best path for any Entrepreneur or startup is to pivot to AI.

AI means you will raise money far more easily, and at a far higher valuation, than in any other area.

To make things even more delicious, there just aren’t that many AI software engineers. So if you can hire a few, or have experience yourself, you are almost guaranteed to get funding.

Stop listening to people wrongly claiming AI startups are hard. These ‘AI startups finding out being a startup is Hard’ are companies raising $220 million ‘seed rounds’ and getting acquired for hundreds of millions of dollars.

Category: AI Funding

AI Marketing Startup Alembic AI raises $145 million from Accenture and WndrCo at a $645 million valuation

Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab AI startup raising funds at $50 Billion Valuation

Why Safe Superintelligence’s $5 Billion Valuation is justified

Ilya Sutskever’s new company, SSI (Safe Superintelligence) raises $1 Billion at a $5 Billion Valuation

OpenAI raising money at $100 Billion Valuation, 6 months after raising at $80 Billion valuation; Thoughts on OpenAI’s $100 Billion Valuation

The Information informs us that Ex Googlers who started AI Startups are finding out Startups are Tricky