Thinking Machines is currently negotiating a new funding round for $1 billion at a valuation of at least $40 billion. Accel is in talks to lead the round, while Nvidia, a seed round investor, is also considering joining. This marks the third valuation attempt in just over a year.
The company previously closed the largest seed round in AI history in July 2025, raising $2 billion at a $12 billion valuation. This round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Nvidia, GV, Lightspeed, and Conviction Partners. The initial investment was largely driven by the same pedigree of Mira Murati and about two dozen OpenAI veterans.
Following the initial seed round, the company sought a valuation of $50 billion to $60 billion by November, but those talks failed to close. The collapse was triggered by the following departure of co-founder and CTO Barret Zoph, as well as co-founder Luke Metz and researcher Sam Schoenholz, who all returned to OpenAI. Lilian Weng, another founding researcher, founding researcher Lilian Weng also left for OpenAI in July.
The current push for a $40 billion valuation is supported by the company's product development. In July, Thinking Machines shipped Inkling, an open-weight model. The company generates revenue through usage-based compute fees that customers pay to adapt Inkling to their own data on the Tinker platform. This has pushed annualised revenue to over $100 million.
Accel's continued interest suggests strong conviction in thethoughty Machines' high-profile AI deal. Accel has committed roughly $8.5 billion across new funds this year. Additionally, Nvidia's potential involvement is linked to a multiyear partnership established in March, which includes a commitment of at least one gigawatt of upcoming Vera Rubin systems and an undisclosed investment.
