OpenAI, Thinking Machines Lab, and the built-in chaos of a $2B seed round

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Jul 19, 2025

Mira Murati, OpenAI's former CTO, just raised a staggering $2 billion for her new startup, Thinking Machines Lab, sparking intrigue in Silicon Valley. Meanwhile, the drama surrounding xAI's safety practices has led to public criticisms from AI researchers. Uber's massive investment in premium robotaxis raises questions about the future of autonomous vehicles. Plus, the podcast dives into the heated AI coding assistant sector, marked by major acquisitions and the intriguing concept of reverse acquihires. Tune in for a lively discussion on innovation and investment trends!

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ADVICE

Watch for Anti-Competitive Talent Acquisitions

Beware big tech's talent acquisitions that avoid full company buyouts but hobble potential competitors.
Regulators should scrutinize these reverse acquihires for anti-competitive behavior beyond just mergers.

ANECDOTE

Windsurf Employees Left Behind

After Google poached Windsurf's leaders in a $2.4B deal, remaining employees feel left behind and worried about their equity's value.
Some see the founders as abandoning their 'crew' amid startup turmoil, highlighting leadership challenges.

INSIGHT

Uber's Massive Robo-Taxi Bet

Uber invests heavily in autonomous vehicle partnerships, including $300M into Lucid and multi-hundred million into Neuro.
This demonstrates Uber's urgency to lead robo-taxi market despite complex, long-term challenges.

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OpenAI’s former chief technology officer, Mira Murati, just raised one of the largest seed rounds in history. Murati secured $2 billion in that seed round for Thinking Machines Lab — a startup so early, it hasn’t even revealed what it’s working on yet. The move is raising eyebrows across Silicon Valley, and it’s only the latest in a wave of top researchers splintering off from OpenAI to chase their own AI moonshots.

Today, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Rebecca Bellan and Anthony Ha break down what’s fueling the OpenAI talent shuffle, investor enthusiasm, and a former employee’s behind-the-scenes peek inside the company. Either way, the team agrees: seed rounds really have changed.

Listen to the full episode to hear more news from the week, including:

The drama around xAI's safety practices keeps coming, with researchers from OpenAI and Anthropic publicly criticizing Musk's AI startup over Grok's latest scandals and what they reveal about broader AI safety gaps
Uber investing hundreds of millions into premium robotaxis with Lucid and Nuro. Kirsten and Rebecca have some thoughts on whether this is a smart move or more AV déjà vu
The AI coding assistant sector is heating up with major acquisitions. Devin-maker Cognition acquired Windsurf just days after Google poached the latter’s leadership in what's becoming a pattern of reverse acquihires
Jack Dorsey's latest string of vibe-coding projects and nonprofit hacker collective, all pointing back to his long-standing push for decentralized tech.

Equity will be back for you next week, so don’t miss it!

Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday.

Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.

Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. We’d also like to thank TechCrunch’s audience development team. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.

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