OpenAI closes funding round at an $852 billion valuation
On Tuesday, OpenAI announced it had closed a record-breaking funding round at a post-money valuation of $852 billion.
The round reached $122 billion in committed capital, up from the $110 billion the company announced in February. SoftBank OpenAI said it led the round along with other investors including Andreessen Horowitz and DE Shaw Ventures.
OpenAI kicked off the AI boom with the launch of the ChatGPT chatbot in 2022, and the company has since become one of the fastest-growing commercial organizations on the planet. As of March, ChatGPT supports more than 900 million weekly active users, including more than 50 million subscribers.
“AI is driving productivity gains, accelerating scientific discovery, and expanding what people and organizations can do,” OpenAI said in a statement. he said. “This funding gives us the resources we need to continue to lead at the scale that this moment requires.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will be under pressure to justify his company’s massive valuation as its latest funding round closes, especially as it prepares for a potential IPO. The startup has backed away from some heavy spending plans in recent months and is shutting down some features and products, including short-form video app Sora, as it looks to rein in costs.
OpenAI said Tuesday that it generates $2 billion in revenue per month. It generated $13.1 billion in revenue last year. The company is still burning cash and is not yet profitable.
In February, OpenAI announced $110 billion in commitments from some of its strategic investors, anchoring the funding round. Amazon Initially agreed to invest up to $50 billion, Nvidia It invested $30 billion and SoftBank invested $30 billion.
The additional $12 billion in capital OpenAI raised came from a broader pool of investors. OpenAI said it expanded participation to investors through bank channels for the first time and raised $3 billion from retail investors.
MicrosoftOpenAI, one of OpenAI’s longtime partners, also participated, but OpenAI did not disclose the size of the company’s investment in its statement Tuesday. Late last year, Microsoft had invested more than $13 billion in the startup.
“Moments like this don’t come along very often,” OpenAI said. “The capital deployed today helps build the infrastructure layer for the intelligence itself. Over time, this value will flow back into the economy, companies, communities and, increasingly, individuals.”
— CNBC’s MacKenzie Sigalos contributed to this report.
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