OpenAI has announced its long-awaited raise of $6.6 billion at a post-money valuation of $157 billion led by Thrive Capital.
The new round makes the ChatGPT creator one of the most valuable private companies in the world and also included investment from the likes of Altimeter Capital, Fidelity, Khosla Ventures, Microsoft, Nvidia, SoftBank and Abu Dhabi-based MGX. Just this week it was reported SoftBank’s Vision Fund would invest $500 million in the round.
Late last week it was reported Apple was dropping out of the round.
OpenAI’s tumultuous weeks
The new round comes just as the company is facing myriad issues, including an exodus of higher-up employees and a restructuring change to switch it from a nonprofit to a for-profit benefit corporation and to give co-founder Sam Altman equity in the company
The funding structure seems to take those factors into account, as it came in the form of convertible notes and reportedly allows for investors to ask for their money back if the change is not completed within two years and removes the cap on returns for investors.
The new round is bigger than the $6 billion round Elon Musk’s generative AI startup, xAI, officially announced in May — which made it the second-most-valuable generative AI company in the world behind only competitor OpenAI at $24 billion. xAI’s round was the largest round raised this year.
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