Thinking Machines Lab is reportedly closing a $5 billion round led by Accel at a $40 billion pre-money valuation

Thinking Machines Lab, the AI startup founded by former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati, is close to a new funding round of about $5 billion, Business Insider reported this week. According to that report, as relayed by SiliconANGLE, Tech Funding News and Techstrong.ai, venture firm Accel would lead the round at a $40 billion valuation before the new money. Techstrong.ai says Thinking Machines declined to comment and Accel did not respond. The figures therefore remain unconfirmed.

What has been reported

Tech Funding News and Techstrong.ai, both citing Business Insider, say the round could close within days. At $40 billion pre-money, the post-money valuation would be about $45 billion. The reports name no investor other than Accel, and they do not say how the money would be used. Tech Funding News suggests that much of it is likely to go to computing capacity, but that is the outlet's own reading, not something the company has said.

The reported terms match talks that surfaced earlier. In September, The Information reported discussions about raising $5 billion to $6 billion at a valuation of at least $40 billion, with Accel in talks to lead. The Next Web summarised that report as saying Nvidia could provide around half of the capital. The latest reports do not say whether Nvidia is part of the deal as it now stands.

How the valuation compares

Thinking Machines raised a $2 billion seed round in July 2025 at a $12 billion valuation. Andreessen Horowitz led it, and Accel, Nvidia and AMD were among the other backers. In late 2025 the company sought a valuation of $50 billion or more, but those talks did not produce a round. The reported $40 billion figure is therefore lower than that earlier target but more than three times the seed valuation.

Revenue figures are scarce and unaudited. In September, a source told TechCrunch that annual revenue had passed $100 million, and The Information described revenue in the hundreds of millions. On those numbers, Tech Funding News calculates a valuation of up to about 400 times revenue.

Context

The funding reports arrived as the company released Inkling 2 Small on its Tinker platform. The mixture-of-experts model has 594 billion parameters, and the company has promised to publish its weights later. Thinking Machines also announced a partnership with Nvidia in March to deploy at least one gigawatt of Vera Rubin systems, with the first deployment planned for early 2027. Until the company or its investors confirm a closing, the size, valuation and list of participants should be treated as reported rather than final.