Accel reportedly in talks to lead $1B round for Thinking Machines at $40B valuation

据报道，Accel 正商谈领投 Thinking Machines 10 亿美元融资，估值达 400 亿美元

Thinking Machines, the AI lab founded early last year by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, is in discussions to raise $1 billion at a valuation of at least $40 billion, The Information reported Thursday. Existing backer Accel is in talks to lead the fundraise, according to our source and The Information’s reporting. 据《The Information》周四报道，由前 OpenAI 首席技术官 Mira Murati 于去年初创立的 AI 实验室 Thinking Machines 正商谈筹集 10 亿美元资金，估值至少达到 400 亿美元。据我们的消息来源及《The Information》的报道，现有投资方 Accel 正商谈领投此轮融资。

The new round, if it is completed, would value the company below the $50 billion valuation that Thinking Machines reportedly sought to secure late last year. Thinking Machines’ annual revenue run rate stands at over $100 million, according to a source with knowledge of the company’s financials. At that revenue figure, a $40 billion valuation reflects an extraordinarily high revenue multiple. 如果此轮融资顺利完成，其公司估值将低于 Thinking Machines 去年底寻求的 500 亿美元目标。据一位了解该公司财务状况的消息人士透露，Thinking Machines 的年度营收运行率已超过 1 亿美元。以这一营收数据计算，400 亿美元的估值反映了极高的市销率（revenue multiple）。

Accel and Thinking Machines didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. In July, the company introduced Inkling, an open-weight model that generates revenue by charging usage-based compute fees for adapting models on proprietary data on its Tinker platform. Accel 和 Thinking Machines 未立即回应置评请求。今年 7 月，该公司推出了 Inkling，这是一个开放权重模型，通过在其 Tinker 平台上基于专有数据进行模型适配，并收取基于使用量的计算费用来产生收入。

The startup’s prior fundraise — a $2 billion round that stands among the largest seed financings in history — valued the company at $12 billion. Andreessen Horowitz led the investment, joined by Nvidia, GV, Lightspeed, and Conviction Partners. Investors backed the round largely on the pedigree of Murati and the former OpenAI researchers who joined her. 该初创公司此前的融资额为 20 亿美元，是历史上规模最大的种子轮融资之一，当时公司估值为 120 亿美元。该轮融资由 Andreessen Horowitz 领投，Nvidia、GV、Lightspeed 和 Conviction Partners 跟投。投资者支持该轮融资很大程度上是看重 Murati 以及加入她的前 OpenAI 研究人员的背景。

Thinking Machines has since had several high-profile departures, with some of the co-founders, including Lilian Weng and Luke Metz, going back to OpenAI. 此后，Thinking Machines 经历了多位高管离职，包括 Lilian Weng 和 Luke Metz 在内的一些联合创始人已重返 OpenAI。