What you need to know
- OpenAI will reportedly raise $6.5 billion through another round of funding from its investors, including Microsoft, Apple, NVIDIA, and Thrive Capital.
- The round of funding could push the AI firm’s market cap well beyond $150 billion.
- The ChatGPT maker also wants to raise $5 billion in debt from a few banks.
Last month, we reported that OpenAI was on the brink of bankruptcy within 12 months, with projections of $5 billion in losses. At the time, another round of funding from investors seemed like the ChatGPT maker’s lifeline to remain afloat.
And as it now seems, OpenAI might be able to keep its operations running. According to a new report by Bloomberg, the ChatGPT maker is in talks to raise $6.5 billion from investors, pushing its market capitalization to approximately $150 billion. The startup also wants to raise $5 billion in debt from a few banks.
For context, OpenAI’s market cap was previously $86 billion. However, the new round of funding bumps its valuation by 74% — arguably making it one of the biggest startups in the world.
To this end, it’s unclear who the investors are, but Thrive Capital, a major OpenAI investor, will reportedly lead the massive funding round. Microsoft, Apple, and NVIDIA are also expected to chip in the round of funding to keep OpenAI’s operations and ventures afloat.
In an internal memo sent to OpenAI employees in August, CFO Sarah Friar highlighted that the funds raised would cover computing power and other operational costs. The memo also indicated that OpenAI was planning to allow its employees to sell their shares in a tender offer later this year.
Elsewhere, the ChatGPT maker is also deliberating to raise the price of its subscription-based services, and could potentially charge up to $2,000 per month for its next-gen AI models. The AI firm is also expected to ship its advanced and reasoning Strawberry model in less than two weeks, making ChatGPT smarter.
This is a developing story, we’ll keep you posted with more details about the deal once more information is available.
