The young company led by Sam Altman was able to raise 5.9 billion euros in a financing round. Microsoft is among the donors. Didem Mente/Getty Images
OpenAI raised $6.6 billion (about €5.9 billion) in a financing round and reaches a valuation of $157 billion.
According to Business Insider US, the capital injection is seen as a crucial step to further accelerate AI technologies.
The financing round also brings strategic partners on board who are committed to the long-term success of OpenAI.
Some of the world’s largest companies believe in the future of artificial intelligence (AI). They show this by recently investing billions of dollars to further advance OpenAI.
The young company OpenAI was able to raise 6.6 billion dollars (6.28 billion euros) in a current financing round (it thus achieves a valuation of 157 billion dollars, the equivalent of around 149.3 billion euros). This makes the company one of the most valuable of its kind.
The huge capital injection is seen by OpenAI as a crucial step, as Business Insider US writes, to further accelerate the development and deployment of AI technologies. “We are grateful to our supporters for the trust they have placed in us,” the company writes on its website.
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Who believes in the future of AI?
The new backers not only provide financial support, but also want to be strategic partners for the young company who rely on the long-term success of OpenAI, according to Business Insider US. Here are some of the key supporters.
- Thrive Capital: This company, founded by Josh Kushner, was an early investor in companies like Slack and Instagram. It has now invested around 1.25 billion dollars (approx. 1.19 billion euros) in OpenAI, reports the Wall Street Journal. In addition, according to Business Insider US, Thrive could invest another billion dollars (approx. 952 million euros) next year if OpenAI achieves certain sales targets.
- Softbank: The Japanese company led by founder Masayoshi Son has invested 500 million dollars (approx. 476 million euros) in OpenAI. After cautious investments in AI in recent years, Softbank now wants to become more active in generative AI, writes BI US. Son himself said at a general meeting that his previous investments were just a “warm-up” for what was to come.
- Microsoft: The tech giant is said to have invested almost a billion dollars (approx. 952 million euros) in this round, building on its previous partnership with OpenAI. The company had already invested around 13 billion dollars (approx. 12.38 billion euros) into it. Microsoft integrates OpenAI’s technology into products such as the Bing search engine and the Copilot AI tools.
- Nvidia: Nvidia, whose chips are used significantly for the development of AI models such as those from OpenAI, invested $100 million (approx. 95 million euros), according to BI US. The partnership between the two companies is intended to further advance the technological development of AI.
- ARK Venture Fund: Cathie Wood’s company is said to have invested $250 million (approx. €238 million) in OpenAI. According to BI US, Wood compared the current stage of AI with the early days of the Internet in the 1990s and sees huge potential in the technology.
MGX, Khosla Ventures, Altimeter Capital Management, Fidelity and Tiger Global also provided further support.
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