Flying cars era returns: Thinking Machines, Project Prometheus and Discovery Loop raise $25B+ combined
WhatTheLJW · x · 2026-09-10
The article revisits Silicon Valley's old self-critique — "we wanted flying cars and got 140 characters" — and argues venture capital is once again funding hard problems. Recent mega-deals:
- Thinking Machines: raised $2B at a $12B valuation before launching any product
- Project Prometheus: raised $12B at a $41B valuation to pursue an "artificial general engineer" for the physical world
- Discovery Loop (Jeff Dean): reportedly in talks to raise $1B at roughly a $10B valuation after Dean and several longtime Google researchers left to start the company
The author frames this as capital returning to ambitious, long-horizon bets after a decade of financing photo apps and dashboards.
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