NEW YORK: OpenAI is close to finalising the first phase of a new funding round that is likely to bring in more than US$100bil, according to people familiar with the matter, a record-breaking financing deal that would give the startup additional capital to build out its artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
As the ChatGPT maker prepares to spend trillions in infrastructure investment, the overall valuation of the company, including the eventual funding, could exceed US$850bil, according to some of the people.
That’s higher than the US$830bil initially expected.
The company’s pre-money value will remain US$730bil, said one person, all of whom asked not to be identified discussing private information.
The first portion of the funding round will largely come from strategic investors including Amazon.com Inc, SoftBank Group Corp, Nvidia Corp and Microsoft Corp, the people said.
If those companies invest near the highest ranges of what has been discussed, those commitments will near US$100bil.
Those companies are expected to finalise their allocations by the end of this month, some of the people said.
Shares of SoftBank, which held a roughly 11% stake in OpenAI as of December, rose as much as 4% on the news yesterday morning in Tokyo.
The next phase of the deal – which will include venture capital firms, sovereign wealth funds and other financial investors – is expected to close later, and may bring the total fundraising amount substantially higher, some of the people said.
The deal is not yet finalised and the details could change, some of the people said.
Representatives for OpenAI, Amazon, Nvidia, SoftBank and Microsoft either declined to comment or did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In connection with the upcoming deal, Amazon is expected to invest up to US$50bil, SoftBank is set to invest as much as US$30bil, and Nvidia has discussed putting in US$20bil, Bloomberg previously reported.
The money from corporate investors is expected to come in several tranches, or installments, over the course of the current year, some of the people said.
As part of its partnership with Amazon, OpenAI is expected to expand its use of Amazon’s chips and cloud computing services, said one of the people. — Bloomberg
