- Nvidia is preparing to invest $2.5 billion to $3 billion in Thinking Machines Lab, founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, as part of a planned $5 billion to $6 billion funding round.
- The startup's pre-money valuation is expected to reach at least $40 billion, representing a more than threefold increase from the $12 billion valuation at its July 2025 seed round.
- Thinking Machines Lab's annualized revenue has just crossed $100 million, indicating a revenue multiple of roughly 400x based on its valuation.
- In July 2025, Thinking Machines Lab raised a $2 billion seed round, one of the largest seed rounds in history at the time.
- The first product, Tinker, was launched in October 2025 and became fully publicly available by December 2025.
- On March 10, 2026, Thinking Machines and Nvidia announced a multi-year strategic partnership to deploy at least 1GW of Vera Rubin systems.
- On July 15, 2026, Thinking Machines released its first in-house model, Inkling, featuring 975 billion total parameters.
Nvidia is set to invest between $2.5 billion and $3 billion in Thinking Machines Lab, a startup founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, as part of a larger funding round of $5 billion to $6 billion. This investment comes as the startup's pre-money valuation reaches $40 billion, a significant increase from its $12 billion valuation during its July 2025 seed round.12347
Despite its valuation, Thinking Machines Lab has only recently crossed $100 million in annualized revenue, indicating a revenue multiple of approximately 400x. This investment underscores Nvidia's strategy to deepen its ties with the startup, as it becomes both the largest investor and the supplier of its 1GW Vera Rubin system. The partnership is expected to drive substantial hardware orders back to Nvidia, further entrenching its position in the AI ecosystem.56
The funding round is reportedly led by venture capital firm Accel, with Nvidia transitioning from a follow-on investor to the largest contributor, potentially covering half of the total raise. This move aligns with Nvidia's broader strategy, which includes its recent $12.93 billion acquisition of Hugging Face, indicating a commitment to both the model layer and distribution of the open-model ecosystem.
As Nvidia continues to expand its AI infrastructure partnerships, the implications of this investment could reshape the competitive landscape in AI technology and computing.
“The funding round is led by Accel, with Nvidia potentially covering roughly half of the total raise, and the startup's valuation implies a revenue multiple of about 400x. Nvidia is also the supplier of the 1GW Vera Rubin system, creating a closed loop where much of the investment returns as hardware orders.”
FXLeaders
