The American technology company OpenAI, known as the developer of the ChatGPT chatbot, managed to attract investments of $40 billion, while its estimated value almost doubled, reaching $300 billion.
“We are announcing a new funding of $40 billion at a valuation of $300 billion, which will allow us to advance the research frontiers of artificial intelligence, increase computing power and provide ChatGPT“ with over 500 million regular users with increasingly powerful tools“, OpenAI said in a statement.
The investor was a group of companies led by the Japanese holding SoftBank Group. As Bloomberg notes, the $40 billion agreement was the largest such investment deal in history between private companies. OpenAI's market value was estimated at $157 billion during the previous funding round in October 2024.
The investments will be received in two stages. SoftBank and a group of investors will initially provide the American company with $10 billion, and the remaining amount will be distributed by the end of 2025. The main part will be provided by a Japanese holding company - $30 billion. The terms of the deal stipulate that OpenAI will restructure its business - granting self-management rights to its commercial division. If this does not happen by the end of the year, SoftBank will reduce its investment contribution to $20 billion. According to Bloomberg, OpenAI will have the right to compensate for the missing funding by attracting new investors.