Microsoft Corp-backed OpenAI is in early discussions to raise a fresh round of funding at a valuation at or above US$100 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said, a deal that would cement the creator of ChatGPT as one of the world’s most valuable start-ups.
Investors potentially involved in the fundraising round have been included in preliminary discussions, according to the people, who asked not to be identified to discuss private matters. Details like the terms, valuation and timing of the funding round have not yet been finalised and could still change, the people said.
The San Francisco, California-based company is set to complete a separate tender offer in early January, which would allow employees to sell their shares at a valuation of US$86 billion, Bloomberg previously reported. That is being led by Thrive Capital and saw more demand from investors than there was availability, people familiar with the matter have said.
OpenAI’s rocketing valuation mirrors the AI frenzy it kicked off one year ago after releasing ChatGPT, a chatbot capable of composing eerily human sentences and even poetry in response to simple prompts. The company became Silicon Valley’s hottest start-up, raising US$13 billion to date from Microsoft, and spurred a new appreciation for the promise of AI that changed the tech industry landscape within a few months.
Amazon.com and Google parent Alphabet have since poured billions into OpenAI-rival Anthropic. Salesforce led an investment into Hugging Face that valued it at US$4.5 billion, and Nvidia Corp, which designs many of the semiconductors that power AI tasks, said earlier this month it made more than two dozen investments in 2023.
OpenAI has also held discussions to raise funding for a new chip venture with Abu Dhabi-based G42, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, at the Hope Global Forums annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia on December 11, 2023. Photo: Bloomberg
The start-up has discussed raising between US$8 billion and US$10 billion from G42, said one of the people, all of whom requested anonymity to discuss confidential information. It is unclear whether OpenAI’s semiconductor venture and wider company funding efforts are related.
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman had been seeking capital for the chip-making project, code-named Tigris. The goal is to produce semiconductors that can compete with those from Nvidia, which currently dominates the AI chip market, Bloomberg News reported last month.
In October, G42 announced a partnership with OpenAI “to deliver cutting-edge AI solutions to the UAE and regional markets”. No financial details were provided. Founded in 2018, G42 is led by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser and chairman of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
OpenAI’s future looked briefly uncertain after its board suddenly fired Altman earlier last month. At the time, some investors considered writing their stakes down to zero. But after five days of leadership tumult, Altman was brought back and a new board was named. The company has aimed to signal to customers that it is refocusing on its products following the upheaval.
