OpenAI raises $6.6B in new funding at a $157B valuation

OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, has made history by closing the largest venture capital round ever recorded, securing a staggering $6.6 billion in funding. This latest round, led by existing investor Thrive Capital, places OpenAI’s pre-money valuation at an unprecedented $157 billion. The funding brings the company’s total capital raised to $17.8 billion.

” The new funding will allow us to double down on our leadership in frontier AI research, increase compute capacity, and continue building tools that help people solve hard problems,” the company said in a blog post announcing the funding round.

The funding round saw participation from major investors such as Microsoft, Nvidia, SoftBank, Fidelity, and several other prominent backers.

OpenAI continues to dominate the generative AI market, with ChatGPT attracting over 250 million weekly active users, including 10 million paying subscribers. The company’s annual revenue is projected to exceed $3.4 billion, with ChatGPT alone expected to bring in $2.7 billion this year, according to internal documents cited by The New York Times. OpenAI’s long-time partner and investor, Microsoft, has integrated OpenAI’s models into its productivity products, while Apple is incorporating ChatGPT into its AI offerings.