Accel reportedly in talks to lead $1B round for Thinking Machines

Thinking Machines, the AI lab Mira Murati founded early last year after leaving OpenAI as chief technology officer, is reportedly in discussions to raise $1 billion at a valuation of at least $40 billion, according to The Information. Existing backer Accel is reportedly in talks to lead the round.

If completed, the new round would value the company below the $50 billion valuation Thinking Machines reportedly sought late last year. The startup’s annual revenue run rate stands at more than $100 million, according to a source with knowledge of its financials — a figure that, against a $40 billion valuation, implies an extraordinarily high revenue multiple. Accel and Thinking Machines did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In July, the company introduced Inkling, an open-weight model that generates revenue through usage-based compute fees for adapting models on proprietary data via its Tinker platform.

Thinking Machines’ prior fundraise — a $2 billion round that ranks among the largest seed financings in history — valued the company at $12 billion. Andreessen Horowitz led that round, joined by Nvidia, GV, Lightspeed, and Conviction Partners, with investors backing the deal largely on the strength of Murati’s pedigree and that of the former OpenAI researchers who joined her. The startup has since seen several high-profile departures, with some co-founders, including Lilian Weng and Luke Metz, returning to OpenAI.

Why it matters

A valuation of at least $40 billion on over $100 million in revenue would make Thinking Machines one of the most richly priced AI labs relative to its actual sales, testing how far investors will stretch pedigree-based bets even as some of its own founding team returns to OpenAI.