FUNDING
Key Metrics
Company Snapshot
Thinking Machines is a AI infra company, based in San Francisco, California, USA, founded 2025 by Mira Murati. Latest valuation $12B (As of Jul 15, 2025, TechCrunch). Total funding $2B (As of Jul 15, 2025).
Recent changes
- Sep 3, 2026Sep 3, 2026Thinking Machines Nears $1B Round at $40B Pulse story
- Jul 31, 2026Jul 31, 2026Thinking Machines Debuts Inkling Small Open Model Pulse story
- Jul 15, 2025Jul 15, 2025Raised $2B Seed at a $12B valuation TechCrunch
- Jul 15, 2025Jul 15, 2025First reported valuation: $12B TechCrunch
- Jul 15, 2025Jul 15, 2025First reported total funding: $2B TechCrunch
Earlier changes (7)
- Jul 15, 2025Jul 15, 2025New investor: ServiceNow Ventures TechCrunch
- Jul 15, 2025Jul 15, 2025New investor: NVentures TechCrunch
- Jul 15, 2025Jul 15, 2025New investor: Andreessen Horowitz TechCrunch
- Jul 15, 2025Jul 15, 2025New investor: AMD Ventures TechCrunch
- Jul 15, 2025Jul 15, 2025New investor: Cisco Investments TechCrunch
- Jul 15, 2025Jul 15, 2025New investor: Jane Street TechCrunch
- Jul 15, 2025Jul 15, 2025New investor: Accel TechCrunch
Funding History
1 event · sources dated per row| Date | Event | Amount | Valuation | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 15, 2025 | Seed | $2B | $12B | outlined = lead | TechCrunch |
Investors
Latest Pulse
- Sep 3, 2026Thinking Machines Nears $1B Round at $40BAccel is reportedly in talks to lead a $1 billion round for Mira Murati's Thinking Machines at a $40 billion valuation -- more than 3x its $12 billion seed mark, but below the $50 billion figure it was targeting late last year.→
- Aug 3, 2026Small Open Models Are Becoming Labs' New Funnel StrategyThinking Machines' Inkling-Small matches its flagship within one point at a quarter of the compute, and MiniMax open-sourced a competitive video model at a third of rivals' cost -- distillation is now a release strategy, not a side project.→
- Jul 31, 2026Thinking Machines Debuts Inkling Small Open ModelThinking Machines released Inkling-Small, a 276-billion-parameter open-weight multimodal model that matches its larger 975-billion-parameter Inkling predecessor within one point on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.→
- Jul 15, 2026Ex-OpenAI CTO's Thinking Machines Open-Sources InklingThinking Machines, founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, open-sourced its first multimodal model, Inkling, built for low cost and resistance to censorship, and it topped Hacker News on release.→
Coverage Timeline
newest first- Sep 3, 2026FUNDINGThinking Machines Nears $1B Round at $40B$1B round in talks→
- Aug 3, 2026AISmall Open Models Are Becoming Labs' New Funnel Strategy→
- Jul 31, 2026AIThinking Machines Debuts Inkling Small Open Model1 pt off flagship score→
- Jul 15, 2026AIEx-OpenAI CTO's Thinking Machines Open-Sources Inkling→
All Coverage
FUNDING$1B round in talks
Thinking Machines Nears $1B Round at $40B
Accel is reportedly in talks to lead a $1 billion round for Mira Murati's Thinking Machines at a $40 billion valuation -- more than 3x its $12 billion seed mark, but below the $50 billion figure it was targeting late last year.
DEEP DIVE
AI
Small Open Models Are Becoming Labs' New Funnel Strategy
AI
Small Open Models Are Becoming Labs' New Funnel Strategy
Thinking Machines' Inkling-Small matches its flagship within one point at a quarter of the compute, and MiniMax open-sourced a competitive video model at a third of rivals' cost -- distillation is now a release strategy, not a side project.
AI
Thinking Machines Debuts Inkling Small Open Model
AI1 pt off flagship score
Thinking Machines Debuts Inkling Small Open Model
Thinking Machines released Inkling-Small, a 276-billion-parameter open-weight multimodal model that matches its larger 975-billion-parameter Inkling predecessor within one point on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.
AI
Ex-OpenAI CTO's Thinking Machines Open-Sources Inkling
AI
Ex-OpenAI CTO's Thinking Machines Open-Sources Inkling
Thinking Machines, founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, open-sourced its first multimodal model, Inkling, built for low cost and resistance to censorship, and it topped Hacker News on release.
Value Add Research
Related Companies
Sources & methodologyshow
Where these figures come from
- TechCrunchmajor outlet3 facts
Figures are labelled Reported (a source states it), Estimated, Derived (computed from other facts) or Rumored (in talks / unconfirmed). Rumors never replace a confirmed figure. Each figure keeps its own as-of date; history is preserved rather than overwritten.