OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, could be in talks to raise a massive tranche of cash.
The Wall Street Journal reports that OpenAI may be close to closing a fundraising round led by Thrive Capital, a previous investor, that’d value the AI company at over $100 billion. That’s substantially higher than OpenAI’s previous $86 billion valuation, and by far the highest valuation of any AI startup to date.
Microsoft is also expected to participate, according to the WSJ. It’s unclear who else might; Khosla Ventures, Infosys and Y Combinator are among OpenAI’s other existing backers.
Whatever size the tranche ends up being — Thrive will reportedly throw in around $1 billion for its part — it’ll be OpenAI’s biggest outside infusion of capital since January 2023, when Microsoft invested nearly $10 billion.
OpenAI desperately needs the money. While the company’s annualized revenue eclipsed $3.4 billion early this year (according to the WSJ), OpenAI could be on track to lose nearly $5 billion by 2025. That’s per The Information, which estimates that the startup has burned through $8.5 billion on AI training and staffing.
