OpenAI has closed its long-awaited funding round at a valuation of $157 billion.
It is worth noting that the mentioned amount also includes $6.6 billion, which the specified startup, which developed the world’s most popular artificial intelligence-based chatbot called ChatGPT, was able to raise from a wide list of investment companies and giants of the global technology sector.
OpenAI on Wednesday, October 2, published a press release dedicated to the financing round. There is no information about investors in this press release. At the same time, the media, citing insiders who are aware of the details of the fundraising process, report that the financing round was led by Thrive Capital, the venture capital firm. The journalists also released information according to which Microsoft, the existing backer of the startup, one of the main beneficiaries of the so-called artificial intelligence boom Nvidia, SoftBank, betting on the AI industry, and many others took part in the mentioned process.
It is worth mentioning that last month the media reported on the intention of Thrive Capital to invest $1 billion in the developer of the world’s most popular chatbot based on machine intelligence.
In a sense, OpenAI is the source of the momentum of the above-mentioned artificial intelligence boom. In fact, the corresponding process of rapid development of machine intelligence and massive global interest in relevant technologies began after the debut of ChatGPT in 2022. This digital product impressed the user audience with its cognitive abilities. Also, the mentioned chatbot has signaled a kind of fundamental progress in the area of artificial intelligence development. ChatGPT has actually become a platform for the popularity of the concept of generative artificial intelligence. After the debut of this chatbot, the AI industry received multibillion-dollar investments.
A post published on the OpenAI blog notes that the new funding will allow the startup to double down its leadership in frontier artificial intelligence research. It was also separately underlined that the investments will be aimed at increasing computing capacity and further development of tools that help people solve complex problems.
A Microsoft spokesperson said that this technology giant is looking forward to continuing cooperation with the ChatGPT developer.
The media, citing insiders, report that last month OpenAI’s revenue was fixed at $300 million. This indicator is 1,700% higher than the figures recorded at the beginning of last year. The startup expects that in 2025 its sales volume in monetary terms will amount to $11.6 billion. This information is also insider information. In 2024, the volume of sales in monetary terms is expected to reach $3.7 billion.
It is worth noting that all insiders spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity since confidential information is implied in this case.
The costs of a ChatGPT developer are massive. OpenAI ramps up purchases of Nvidia’s graphics processing units, which are necessary for training and running large language models. The media, citing insiders, report that this year the startup expects to lose about $5 billion.
It is worth noting that in 2024, before the funding round, OpenAI was evaluated at $80 billion. Last year, the corresponding figure was fixed at $29 billion. The startup continues to develop new products based on artificial intelligence for business. OpenAI also expands the capabilities of functional solutions designed to generate photos and videos.
Chief financial officer of the startup Sarah Friar, during a conversation with media representatives, said that currently, the number of weekly active ChatGPT users is 250 million. Also, according to insider information, there are 11 million ChatGPT Plus subscribers and 1 million paying business users.
During a conversation with journalists, Sarah Friar also stated that artificial intelligence is already personalizing learning, accelerating healthcare breakthroughs, and driving productivity. According to her, this is just a start.
As we have reported earlier, OpenAI Enhances Voice and Vision Capabilities.
