OpenAi closes a record $122bn funding round
The valuation of the ChatGPT developer reaches USD 852 billion. In the game Amazon, Nvidia and SoftBank
OpenAI struck a deal to raise $122 billion from investors with a valuation of $852 billion, marking by far the company's largest funding round to date and reinforcing its expensive campaign to acquire more chips, data centres and talent.
Most of the funding, which has been in the pipeline for months, came from three large technology companies. Amazon has agreed to invest $50 billion in the round, while Nvidia and SoftBank have each invested $30 billion. A large part of Amazon's investment - $35 billion - is conditional on OpenAI going public or reaching the technological milestone of general artificial intelligence.
The developer of ChatGPT has also secured funding from a long list of other major backers, including Andreessen Horowitz, MGX of Abu Dhabi, D.E. Shaw Ventures, TPG and T. Rowe Price. The company's valuation includes the funds raised.
For the first time in its history, OpenAI raised more than $3 billion from individual investors through banking channels. The startup also said it will be included in several exchange-traded funds managed by Ark Invest of Cathie Wood, with the aim of offering more people the opportunity to invest in the Ai company.
Sarah Friar, OpenAI's chief financial officer, said that this financing 'far exceeds even the largest IPO ever'. The deal, she explained, is intended to give the company 'a great deal of flexibility' to invest in IT resources and its Ai development plan at a time of increasing uncertainty for public markets, not least because of the war in Iran.
