Openai seeks additional funds from investors as part of its $40 billion round
Openai is looking for Capital from new and existing investors, two people familiar with the company’s plans told Wired. The fundraising campaign is part of the $40 billion round announced in March. According to one of the sources, the round will reopen on Monday, July 28, and he is directly aware of the fundraising event.
The $40 billion round announced earlier this year valued Openai at a valuation of up to $300 billion, making it one of the most valuable private startups in history. The round was led by Japanese investment group Softbank, which promised to contribute 75% of the total funding. The initial payment was $10 billion, $7.5 billion from SoftBank and $2.5 billion from other investor groups. Openai is currently raising the last $30 billion, raising $22.50 from SoftBank and $7.50 from other investors’ group.
WIRD confirmed that SoftBank’s commitment could be cut to $10 billion if Openai does not reorganize by the end of the year.
Openai declined to comment on the record.
According to PitchBook, Openai has raised a total of $63.92 billion since the company was founded. Its backers include many institutional and individual investors, including Microsoft, Andre Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund, Thrive Capital, Coatue Management, Nvidia and Reid Hoffman. The relationship between Microsoft and Openai is closely intertwined, which provides Openai with a large amount of cloud computing resources, and OpenAi provides Microsoft with exclusive access to its best model, despite recent reports of complications in their relationship.
Openai is also working with SoftBank and others to invest more than $500 billion in a four-year AI data center project. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that the two entities are in conflict with certain aspects of the partnership, including where to build data centers, and Openai CEO Sam Altman has been taking action to sign the Stargate Alterigned data center without a Japanese company.
SoftBank declined to comment on the record.
Openai’s corporate structure is also a dispute and exaggerates Elon Musk, who helped launch the research lab to protect humans’ mission of universal intelligence or AGI. After Musk left the company’s board in early 2018, Openai created a for-profit division, partly to make it easier to raise funds. Last year, Musk sued Openai allegedly abandoning its initial mission and said the company “is not only developing, but also perfecting AGI to maximize Microsoft’s profits, not for the benefit of humanity.”
In May, Openai proposed a new structure that controls nonprofits in the company and transforms its current for-profit subsidiary into a public welfare company. The new nonprofit will hold stakes in PBC, which, in theory, will aim to prioritize shareholder returns while also pursuing projects with obvious public interest. SoftBank’s investment in OpenAI depends on the new structure approved in Delaware early next year.
Other reports by Kylie Robison and Zoë Schiffer.
