Thrive Capital leads the round with reinvestments from Microsoft and Khosla Ventures, as OpenAI strengthens its position in AI research and development.
OpenAI has raised $6.6 billion in new funding, pushing its valuation to $157 billion. The company, known for its popular AI platform ChatGPT, which boasts over 250 million weekly users, aims to expand its research, increase computational capacity, and develop new tools for solving complex problems across industries.
Reuters reports that the funding round drew returning investors such as Thrive Capital and Khosla Ventures, alongside OpenAI’s largest corporate supporter, Microsoft, with new participation from Nvidia.
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Khosla Ventures, founded by Indian American Vinod Khosla, initially invested in OpenAI in 2019.
The infusion of capital will allow OpenAI to strengthen its position as a leader in frontier AI research while also making advanced intelligence more accessible to the public, the company stated.
“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,” it said. “We aim to make advanced intelligence a widely accessible resource. We’re grateful to our investors for their trust in us, and we look forward to working with our partners, developers, and the broader community to shape an AI-powered ecosystem and future that benefits everyone. By collaborating with key partners, including the U.S. and allied governments, we can unlock this technology’s full potential.”
The funding round was led by venture firm Thrive Capital. Apple had shown interest but reportedly withdrew from the round late last week.
OpenAI, founded by Sam Altman in 2015, is now the second-highest-valued startup, trailing only TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance.
OpenAI has raised a total of $17.9 billion in funding over 9 rounds, according to Crunchbase.
Prior to the current fundraising round, Microsoft had 49% shares in the company and other stakeholders 49%.