diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index a7b4c825e..548664e89 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ requires = [
     "cymem>=2.0.2,<2.1.0",
     "preshed>=3.0.2,<3.1.0",
     "murmurhash>=0.28.0,<1.1.0",
-    "thinc==8.0.0a6",
+    "thinc==8.0.0a8",
     "blis>=0.4.0,<0.5.0"
 ]
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 814eaf3dc..08b4c228a 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # Our libraries
 cymem>=2.0.2,<2.1.0
 preshed>=3.0.2,<3.1.0
-thinc==8.0.0a6
+thinc==8.0.0a8
 blis>=0.4.0,<0.5.0
 ml_datasets>=0.1.1
 murmurhash>=0.28.0,<1.1.0
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 80ceed207..9fe02018b 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -36,13 +36,13 @@ setup_requires =
     cymem>=2.0.2,<2.1.0
     preshed>=3.0.2,<3.1.0
     murmurhash>=0.28.0,<1.1.0
-    thinc==8.0.0a6
+    thinc==8.0.0a8
 install_requires =
     # Our libraries
     murmurhash>=0.28.0,<1.1.0
     cymem>=2.0.2,<2.1.0
     preshed>=3.0.2,<3.1.0
-    thinc==8.0.0a6
+    thinc==8.0.0a8
     blis>=0.4.0,<0.5.0
     wasabi>=0.4.0,<1.1.0
     srsly>=2.0.0,<3.0.0
diff --git a/spacy/about.py b/spacy/about.py
index 6fa1f4c0b..3f87c8dbc 100644
--- a/spacy/about.py
+++ b/spacy/about.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # fmt: off
 __title__ = "spacy"
-__version__ = "3.0.0.dev6"
+__version__ = "3.0.0.dev7"
 __release__ = True
 __download_url__ = "https://github.com/explosion/spacy-models/releases/download"
 __compatibility__ = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/explosion/spacy-models/master/compatibility.json"