{
  "id": 5400368,
  "title": "Accel reportedly in talks to lead $1B round for Thinking Machines at $40B valuation",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/03/accel-reportedly-in-talks-to-lead-1b-round-for-thinking-machines-at",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-03T19:36:29.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "TechCrunch",
    "slug": "techcrunch",
    "url": "https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/03/accel-reportedly-in-talks-to-lead-1b-round-for-thinking-machines-at-40b-valuation/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Thinking Machines, an AI lab founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, is reportedly in negotiations to lead a $1 billion fundraising round, with Accel potentially taking the lead, according to a source cited by The Information. The potential investment would value the company at a minimum of $40 billion, though this valuation falls short of the $50 billion target Thinking Machines sought to achieve last year. The company's annual revenue run rate is estimated at over $100 million, resulting in an extremely high revenue multiple for the $40 billion valuation. Accel and Thinking Machines have not yet commented on the reported discussions. In July, the company unveiled Inkling, an open-weight model that generates revenue through usage-based compute fees for adapting models on proprietary data using its Tinker platform. The startup's previous fundraising round, a $2 billion investment, positioned the company at a $12 billion valuation, led by Andreessen Horowitz and joined by Nvidia, GV, Lightspeed, and Conviction Partners. The high-profile backing was primarily due to Murati's background and the involvement of former OpenAI researchers. Since its inception, Thinking Machines has experienced several departures from the co-founding team, with notable figures like Lilian Weng and Luke Metz returning to OpenAI.",
  "summary": "The high-profile startup's annual revenue run rate stands at at over $100 million.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}