OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has raised $8.3 billion at a valuation of $300 billion, according to The New York Times. The investment is part of the company’s $40 billion funding plan for this year.
It is noted that this round was completed months earlier than expected. OpenAI raised $2.5 billion in seed funding led by SoftBank in March and planned to raise an additional $7.5 billion by the end of the year. However, the company’s rapid growth in the field of artificial intelligence has increased investor interest so much that this round was completed earlier than planned.
The Information reports that OpenAI’s annual revenue has already reached $12 billion, and the number of weekly active users of ChatGPT has exceeded 700 million. The New York Times reports that this figure is closer to $13 billion and is projected to rise to $20 billion by the end of the year. The company is also gaining additional strength from the US government’s new AI Action Plan on artificial intelligence and strategic talks with Microsoft.
According to the information, this investment round was led by Dragoneer Investment Group, and this institution alone invested $ 2.8 billion. Other new investors include giants such as Blackstone, TPG, T. Rowe Price. The round also included Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund, Tiger Global, Fidelity, Coatue, Thrive Capital and other well-known funds.
However, some early investors were dissatisfied with the fact that they received a smaller share in this round. The company preferred to allocate more space to new strategic partners.
OpenAI has not yet made an official comment on this news.
