Thinking Machines, the AI lab founded early last year by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, is in discussions to raise $1 billion at a valuation of at least $40 billion, The Information reported Thursday. Existing backer Accel is in talks to lead the fundraise, according to our source and The Information’s reporting.
The new round, if it is completed, would value the company below the $50 billion valuation that Thinking Machines reportedly sought to secure late last year.
Thinking Machines’ annual revenue run rate stands at over $100 million, according to a source with knowledge of the company’s financials. At that revenue figure, a $40 billion valuation reflects an extraordinarily high revenue multiple.
Accel and Thinking Machines didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
In July, the company introduced Inkling, an open-weight model that generates revenue by charging usage-based compute fees for adapting models on proprietary data on its Tinker platform.
The startup’s prior fundraise — a $2 billion round that stands among the largest seed financings in history — valued the company at $12 billion. Andreessen Horowitz led the investment, joined by Nvidia, GV, Lightspeed, and Conviction Partners. Investors backed the round largely on the pedigree of Murati and the former OpenAI researchers who joined her.
Thinking Machines has since had several high-profile departures, with some of the co-founders, including Lilian Weng and Luke Metz, going back to OpenAI.
Source: TechCrunch Startups
