Thinking Machines, the AI lab started by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, is reportedly negotiating a $1 billion funding round that would value it at $40 billion or more, with existing investor Accel potentially leading the deal. That figure would mark a step down from the $50 billion valuation the startup had sought late last year, though it still dwarfs the company's reported annual revenue run rate of over $100 million.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-09-03
Presentation software company Gamma has acquired Lica, an Accel-backed startup that turned screenshots and recordings into branded marketing videos for e-commerce clients. Lica's co-founders, Priyaa Kalyanaraman and Purvanshi Mehta, will now lead a new design research division inside Gamma focused on visual communication and AI.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-08-25
Startup Keenable, founded by former Yandex search executive Andrey Styskin and AI scientist Matthias Petri, has emerged from stealth with $26 million in seed funding led by Accel, with participation from Conviction Partners and angel investors. The company has built a search index spanning over 100 billion documents designed specifically for AI systems rather than human users, and its API is already being used by AI labs and inference providers for training and live retrieval, including a new partnership with voice AI company Gradium.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-08-25