Monday, October 26, 2026 · Edition updated 6:00 AM ETMON, OCT 26 editionNext edition in Next in --:--:--
Intelligence Verdict
AI startups · New frontier labs

Thinking Machines Lab

“Thinking Machines Lab is an artificial intelligence research and product company.” Thinking Machines Lab, company-reported

  • $12Bvaluation at its last closed round, Jul 15, 2025
  • $40B+reported in talks, Sep 3, 2026
  • Has a model or API2 things shipped, by our search
The facts

Thinking Machines Lab at a glance.

Read Oct 20, 2026. Valuations and amounts are copied as each source states them; a figure that is only reported (talks, or people familiar with the deal) is labeled as reported.

Kind of company
New frontier labsStart-ups building general AI models to rival the biggest labs.
Based in
United States
Founded
2025TechCrunch, Sep 3, 2026
Last closed-round valuation
$12B$12 billion (TechCrunch, Jul 15, 2025)
Reported valuation
Reported $40B+, in talksat least $40 billion (TechCrunch, citing The Information, Sep 3, 2026)
What it has shipped
Has a model or API
Founders
  • Mira Murati: former OpenAI chief technology officer (TechCrunch, Jul 15, 2025)
Latest news

Reported to be in talks to raise about $1 billion at a valuation of at least $40 billion, led by Accel; TechCrunch notes an annual revenue run rate above $100 million and that co-founders Lilian Weng and Luke Metz have returned to OpenAI. Sep 3, 2026

TechCrunch, citing The Information, Sep 3, 2026

What it has built

Shipped, or not yet.

“Has a model or API” is what our search found: something the public can use or buy, a model or API, research only, or nothing public.

api · Oct 2025

Tinker, a platform for fine-tuning models (launched about a year before Oct 2026, per the company)

Source
model · Jul 15, 2026

Inkling, open-weight Mixture-of-Experts model, 975B total / 41B active parameters, weights on Hugging Face

Source
2 rounds

Funding, as reported.

Every round we found, with the amount, valuation and investors as the source states them.

WhenRoundAmountValuationInvestors namedSource
Jul 15, 2025Seed$2 billion$12 billionAndreessen Horowitz (lead), Nvidia, Accel, ServiceNow, Cisco, AMD, Jane StreetTechCrunch
Sep 3, 2026New round in talks (reported, not closed)about $1 billionat least $40 billionAccel (reportedly in talks to lead)TechCrunch, citing The Information
Our note

Worth knowing.

Our note: The $40B figure comes from a report of talks, not a closed round; Accel and the company did not comment. The company reportedly sought $50B late in 2025. Inkling's licence is not named on the announcement page.