Mira Murati's lab is raising at $40bn, which is less than it asked for
Thinking Machines is in talks to raise $1bn at $40bn. It went looking for $50bn late last year. In this market that is the unusual part.
Accel, already an investor, is in talks to lead, and Nvidia has discussed participating. The lab was founded in early 2025 by Mira Murati after she left OpenAI as chief technology officer. Its annual revenue run rate is above $100m, which at $40bn is roughly four hundred times revenue. In July it shipped Inkling, an open weight model that earns through the usage based compute fees customers pay to adapt it to their own data.
Why this one is different
The direction is what stands out. Gimlet raised at $3bn this month, six months after an $80m round, and Nscale is reported to be seeking $3.5bn before a listing. A round priced below a company's own earlier ask is rare enough in this market to be the story on its own, and this one belongs to a lab with a former OpenAI chief technology officer running it and nine figures of revenue behind it.
A number that went down, in a month where every other number went up.
How we got here
- Early 2025Murati leaves OpenAI, where she was chief technology officer, and founds Thinking Machines Lab.
- Late 2025The lab reportedly seeks a $50bn valuation.
- Jul 2026It ships Inkling, an open weight model earning through compute fees when customers adapt it on Tinker.
- 4 Sep 2026Gimlet raises $300m at $3bn, six months after an $80m round, in the same field on the same week.
- 3 Sep 2026Thinking Machines is in talks at $40bn, with an existing backer leading and Nvidia discussing joining.
What it does and does not mean
These are talks, not a closed round. The figure is reported rather than announced, no filing has been made, and terms under negotiation move. A valuation below an earlier ask is also not the same as a company being worth less than it was: the earlier number was what was sought, not what anybody agreed to pay. What it does show is a price being put on a lab with about $100m of run rate and no consumer chat product, at roughly four hundred times revenue, and the two parties reported to be setting it are an existing investor and the company that sells the compute.