OpenAI In Talks To Raise $6.5 Bln For $150 Valuation

OpenAI, the maker of popular chatbot ChatGPT, is in talks to raise $6.5 billion in equity financing from investors at a valuation of $150 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the situation. The Microsoft-backed company is also in talks with banks for another $5 billion in debt in the form of revolving credit facility.

The new valuation is significantly higher than the $86 billion valuation from the company’s tender offer earlier this year, the report noted.

OpenAI, led by Sam Altman, is considered a major player in the artificial-intelligence industry with the super success of its chatbot ChatGPT.

OpenAI, which was founded in 2015 as a non-profit organization, shifted to a “capped-profit” model called OpenAI LP in 2019, which allows it to attract investment while still aiming to prioritize safety and ethical considerations.

ChatGPT tells us that OpenAI has received significant investment from various sources, including technology companies and venture capital firms. In 2020, Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI, and in January 2023, it raised $10 billion from the tech giant.

San Francisco-based OpenAI last week said it has more than 1 million paid users for the business versions of ChatGPT, which was introduced a year ago in a bid to boost revenue, reflecting growing demand. In April, the company had 600,000 corporate ChatGPT users. The company’s nearly half of OpenAI’s corporate users are based in the US.

Further, the company has launched ChatGPT Team for smaller companies and ChatGPT Edu product for people at universities.

In late August, it was reported that ChatGPT has over 200 million weekly users, doubling its user base since November. The generative AI tool has seen a rapid growth since its launch in 2022, and the company expects its numbers to grow further with the launch of Apple’s IOS 18.

The iPhone maker, at its developers conference in June, introduced Apple Intelligence with a number of AI features backed by a partnership with OpenAI.

Despite the positive developments, tech majors Microsoft and Apple said they were dropping out of their respective seats on the Board of Directors of OpenAI, amid the increasing regulatory scrutiny in Europe and the U.S. over generative AI.

Microsoft, OpenAI’s largest investor, quit as an observer on OpenAI’s nonprofit board, a non-voting seat, noting that the seat was no longer needed as the company had witnessed significant progress from the newly formed board.

The tech giant took the seat in November last year when its co-founder Sam Altman was ousted from the Board and as CEO after alleging that he was not consistently candid in his communications. Altman rejoined as CEO few days later after an independent Special Committee investigation found that his conduct did not mandate removal.

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