Accel reportedly in talks to lead $1B round for Thinking Machines at $40B valuation
News Source
β’Thu, 03 Sep 2026 19:36:29 +0000
π° What Happened
Thinking Machines, the AI lab founded by former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati, is talking with investors about raising 1 billion dollars. The deal would value the company at about 40 billion dollars, according to reports. Existing backer Accel is in talks to lead the round.
The new price is below the 50 billion dollars the company wanted last year. Its revenue run rate is over 100 million dollars a year, so the valuation is very high for now.
π The Backstory
Murati helped build ChatGPT at OpenAI before leaving in 2024. Thinking Machines hired many top OpenAI researchers and raised 2 billion dollars at a 12 billion dollar value, one of the biggest seed rounds in history.
Some co-founders, like Lilian Weng and Luke Metz, have since returned to OpenAI. In July the company released Inkling, an open-weight model that earns money through compute fees. The new round would show investor faith in Murati's team despite the departures.
π― Why It Matters
Huge AI deals decide which products we get next. They also tell us how much money and hope the world is pouring into AI.
Thinking Machines, the AI lab founded by former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati, is talking with investors about raising 1 billion dollars. The deal would value the company at about 40 billion dollars, according to reports. Existing backer Accel is in talks to lead the round.
The new price is below the 50 billion dollars the company wanted last year. Its revenue run rate is over 100 million dollars a year, so the valuation is very high for now.
Murati helped build ChatGPT at OpenAI before leaving in 2024. Thinking Machines hired many top OpenAI researchers and raised 2 billion dollars at a 12 billion dollar value, one of the biggest seed rounds in history.
Some co-founders, like Lilian Weng and Luke Metz, have since returned to OpenAI. In July the company released Inkling, an open-weight model that earns money through compute fees. The new round would show investor faith in Murati's team despite the departures.
Huge AI deals decide which products we get next. They also tell us how much money and hope the world is pouring into AI.