Accel reportedly in talks to lead $1B round for Thinking Machines at $40B valuation
In Brief Posted: 12:36 PM PDT · September 3, 2026 Image Credits:David Paul Morris/Bloomberg / Getty Images Marina Temkin Accel reportedly in talks to lead $1B round for Thinking Machines at $40B valuation Thinking Machines, the AI lab founded early last year by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, is in…
In Brief Posted: 12:36 PM PDT · September 3, 2026 Image Credits:David Paul Morris/Bloomberg / Getty Images Marina Temkin Accel reportedly in talks to lead $1B round for Thinking Machines at $40B valuation Thinking Machines, the AI lab founded early last year by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, is in discussions to raise $1 billion at a valuation of at least $40 billion, The Information reported Thursday. Existing backer Accel is in talks to lead the fundraise, according to our source and The Information’s reporting. The new round, if it is completed, would value the company below the $50 billion valuation that Thinking Machines reportedly sought to secure late last year. Thinking Machines’ annual revenue run rate stands at over $100 million, according to a source with knowledge of the company’s financials. At that revenue figure, a $40 billion valuation reflects an extraordinarily high revenue multiple. Accel and Thinking Machines didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. In July, the company introduced Inkling, an open-weight model that generates revenue by charging usage-based compute fees for adapting models on proprietary data on its Tinker platform. The startup’s prior fundraise — a $2 billion round that stands among the largest seed financings in history — valued the company at $12 billion. Andreessen Horowitz led the investment, joined by Nvidia, GV, Lightspeed, and Conviction Partners. Investors backed the round largely on the pedigree of Murati and the former OpenAI researchers who joined her. Thinking Machines has since had several high-profile departures, with some of the co-founders, including Lilian Weng and Luke Metz, going back to OpenAI. Topics Accel, AI, In Brief, Mira Murati, Startups, Thinking Machines Lab October 13 – 15 San Francisco Don’t miss out. The startup community will gather to answer a pivotal question: How do you build sustainably in the AI era? REGISTER NOW Newsletters See More Subscribe for the industry’s biggest tech news Related Startups Palo Alto Networks paid $500M for Thrive-backed Console, sources say Marina Temkin 1 day ago AI OpenAI’s new reasoning technique alarms AI safety experts Russell Brandom 1 day ago AI India’s richest man now wants to turn aging computers into AI-ready PCs Jagmeet Singh 2 days ago Latest in AI AI The sameness problem behind those unappetizing AI-generated menus Amanda Silberling 29 minutes ago In Brief Crusoe reportedly raises $3B at a $30B valuation Marina Temkin 4 hours ago In Brief Accel reportedly in talks to lead $1B round for Thinking Machines at $40B valuation Marina Temkin 9 hours agoSource: TechCrunch — Published — Category: Business