Accel in talks to lead $1B round valuing Thinking Machines at $40B
Accel is reportedly in talks to lead a $1B funding round that would value Mira Murati's Thinking Machines at about $40B, despite a revenue run rate just above $100M and recent co-founder departures.
A potential $1 billion financing round for Thinking Machines underscores how investors are still willing to place large bets on AI startups, even when valuations outpace current revenue. Sources say Accel is in discussions to lead the fundraise, which would peg the Mira Murati–founded lab at roughly $40 billion.
Funding, valuation and context
Reports indicate the proposed round would value Thinking Machines below the roughly $50 billion target it pursued late last year. The company’s annual revenue run rate is said to exceed $100 million, a figure that would make a $40 billion valuation an exceptionally high revenue multiple.
The startup’s prior financing was a $2 billion round that valued the company at $12 billion and ranked among the largest seed-era investments. That earlier round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and included Nvidia, GV, Lightspeed and Conviction Partners.
Products and business model
In July, Thinking Machines launched Inkling, described as an open-weight model. The company generates revenue through usage-based compute fees tied to adapting models on proprietary data via its Tinker platform.
Thinking Machines was founded early last year by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati. Since then, several high-profile departures have been reported, with some co-founders — including Lilian Weng and Luke Metz — returning to OpenAI.
Neither Accel nor Thinking Machines immediately responded to requests for comment on the reported talks.