Accel in talks to lead $1B round for Thinking Machines at $40B valuation

Accel is in talks to lead a $1 billion funding round for Thinking Machines at a valuation of at least $40 billion, according to reporting by The Information and a source cited by TechCrunch. The proposed valuation is below the $50 billion target the company reportedly sought in late 2025.

Thinking Machines, founded in early 2025 by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, has an annual revenue run rate exceeding $100 million, a source with knowledge of its financials told TechCrunch. The company introduced Inkling, an open-weight model, in July. Inkling generates revenue by charging usage-based compute fees for adapting models on proprietary data via its Tinker platform.

The company's prior fundraising round—a $2 billion seed financing—valued Thinking Machines at $12 billion and was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Nvidia, GV, Lightspeed, and Conviction Partners. Investors in that round cited the pedigree of Murati and the former OpenAI researchers who joined her.

Thinking Machines has since experienced high-profile departures, including co-founders Lilian Weng and Luke Metz, who returned to OpenAI.