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Thinking Machines Reportedly Seeking $1B at $40B Valuation With Accel Leading

[Industry Trend]

Mira Murati's AI lab Thinking Machines is reportedly in talks to raise $1 billion at a valuation of at least $40 billion, with existing investor Accel in discussions to lead. The figure is below the $50 billion the company reportedly sought late last year, and sits atop a revenue run rate of just over $100 million from its Inkling open-weight model and Tinker fine-tuning platform. The startup has also seen several co-founders, including Lilian Weng and Luke Metz, depart back to OpenAI.

[AI Funding] [Mira Murati] [open-weight models] [Thinking Machines] [accel]
Risk: [+0.01% ↑] [0 days]
AGI: [+0.01% ↑] [0 days]
> Impact_Analysis

Skynet Chance (+0.01%): Another billion dollars flowing into a frontier lab modestly expands the number of well-resourced actors racing on capabilities, though the article gives no evidence about this lab's alignment or control practices. The down-round relative to the $50B target and the founder attrition slightly temper that effect.

Skynet Date (+0 days): Fresh capital marginally accelerates competitive frontier development, but $1B is small relative to hyperscaler spending and the news signals cooling rather than surging investor enthusiasm.

AGI Progress (+0.01%): The funding is a resource event rather than a technical result; the only capability signal is the existing Inkling open-weight model and Tinker adaptation platform, which are incremental tooling rather than steps toward general intelligence.

AGI Date (+0 days): Capital sustains one more serious lab pursuing frontier research, slightly compressing timelines, though the valuation cut from $50B to $40B and the loss of key researchers back to OpenAI blunt the acceleration.

>> Read the original story at TechCrunch

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