$1 billion in new funding is under discussion for Thinking Machines, with Accel in talks to lead a round that would value the AI startup at at least $40 billion.
That price tag is below the $50 billion valuation the company reportedly sought late last year, even though its annual revenue run rate has climbed above $100 million.
Thinking Machines launched its Inkling open-weight model in July, generating revenue through usage-based compute fees for adapting models on proprietary data via its Tinker platform.
The company previously raised $2 billion at a $12 billion valuation in one of the largest seed financings on record, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Nvidia, GV, Lightspeed and Conviction Partners.
Founded in early 2025 by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, the startup has also seen several co-founders, including Lilian Weng and Luke Metz, return to OpenAI.