Thinking Machines in Talks to Raise $1 Billion at $40 Billion Valuation

Mira Murati's artificial intelligence venture, Thinking Machines, is in discussions to raise $1 billion in new funding at a valuation of at least $40 billion, according to a report from TechCrunch. Venture capital firm Accel, an existing investor in the startup, is currently in talks to lead the financing round.

The proposed deal would cement Thinking Machines as one of the most richly valued private software companies in the world, while also commanding an eye-watering multiple. A person familiar with the company's financials indicated that its annual revenue run rate recently crossed $100 million, meaning a $40 billion valuation would price the startup at roughly 400 times its annualized top line.

While substantial, the target valuation marks a modest reset from the $50 billion figure the startup explored with prospective backers late last year. Even so, the new round would represent a steep step-up from its inaugural $2 billion funding round, which valued the lab at $12 billion. That historic seed deal was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with capital from Nvidia, GV, Lightspeed, and Conviction Partners.

Commercial Products and Founder Departures

Murati, the former chief technology officer of OpenAI, founded the lab early last year alongside several prominent researchers from her former employer. Commercial efforts began materializing publicly in July with the launch of Inkling, an open-weight foundation model. Thinking Machines monetizes the model by charging usage-based compute fees when enterprises adapt Inkling to their proprietary datasets through its Tinker platform.

Despite rapid commercialization, the startup has navigated turbulence within its founding technical ranks. Thinking Machines has faced multiple high-level exits in recent months, with co-founders Lilian Weng and Luke Metz both leaving the company to return to OpenAI.

For venture investors, paying extreme revenue multiples for frontier model builders reflects an ongoing belief that compute-driven tooling platforms like Tinker can scale revenue at unprecedented speeds, even as technical competition intensifies and talent retention remains an expensive challenge.