AI lab Thinking Machines, founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, is reportedly in discussions to raise $1 billion at a valuation of at least $40 billion, according to The Information. Existing investor Accel is said to be in talks to lead the round, though the figure would fall below the $50 billion valuation the company had reportedly sought late last year.
The company’s annual revenue run rate reportedly exceeds $100 million, a source familiar with its finances said, meaning the reported valuation would represent an unusually high revenue multiple. Accel and Thinking Machines did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In July, Thinking Machines launched Inkling, an open-weight model that generates revenue through usage-based compute fees for customizing models on proprietary data via its Tinker platform.
The startup’s previous fundraise, a $2 billion round considered among the largest seed rounds in history, valued the company at $12 billion and was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Nvidia, GV, Lightspeed, and Conviction Partners. That round was driven largely by confidence in Murati and the group of former OpenAI researchers who joined her.
Since then, the company has seen several high-profile departures, including co-founders Lilian Weng and Luke Metz, both of whom have returned to OpenAI.
