OpenAI Gets $6.6 Billion Investments with $157 Billion Valuation

OpenAI closed a new funding round at a valuation of $157 billion. It is comprised of a $6.6 billion investment from big tech companies and investors as the company looks to expand its efforts across generative AI.

The ChatGPT developer did not list the investors in a blog that announced the round, but Bloomberg reported VC company Thrive Capital is the lead investor. CNBC previously reported Thrive Capital planned to invest $1 billion. Bloomberg reported Microsoft, which has previously invested $13 billion in OpenAI, chipmaker Nvidia, Softbank Group, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX also took part in the funding. The round also included participation from Khosla Ventures, Altimeter Capital, Fidelity, MGX, and Tiger Global.

“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,” OpenAI stated in its blog post. Despite some growing pains, OpenAI has been regarded as the leader across the booming generative AI sector ever since it launched ChatGPT two years ago. OpenAI now has 250 million weekly active users on ChatGPT. The company is also moving ahead with plans to establish a separate for-profit entity.