Accel reportedly in talks to lead $1B funding round for Mira Murati's Thinking Machines at $40B valuation

Thinking Machines, the AI lab founded in early 2025 by former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati, is reportedly in discussions to raise $1 billion at a valuation of at least $40 billion. The Information reported the development on Thursday, citing a source familiar with the matter.

Accel, an existing backer of the company, is said to be in talks to lead the new round. If completed, the deal would value Thinking Machines below the roughly $50 billion valuation the company reportedly sought late last year.

A steep revenue multiple

According to a source with knowledge of the company's finances, Thinking Machines' annual revenue run rate currently exceeds $100 million. At that level, a $40 billion valuation would represent an extraordinarily high multiple of revenue. Accel and Thinking Machines did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In July, the company launched Inkling, an open-weight model. Thinking Machines generates revenue by charging usage-based compute fees for adapting models to customers' proprietary data through its Tinker platform.

Previous round and departures

Thinking Machines' prior fundraise, a $2 billion round considered one of the largest seed financings on record, valued the company at $12 billion. That round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Nvidia, GV, Lightspeed and Conviction Partners. Investors backed the round largely based on the reputations of Murati and the former OpenAI researchers who joined her.

Since then, the company has seen several high-profile departures, including co-founders Lilian Weng and Luke Metz, who have both returned to OpenAI.