OpenAI has raised $6.6 billion in the latest funding round with its valuation slated to rise as high as $157 billion, way ahead of competitors engaged in building or operating large language models.
The round attracted returning venture capital investors such as Thrive Capital and Khosla Ventures, as well as OpenAI's biggest backer Microsoft. Nvidia also invested.
The raising of the capital by the ChatGPT-maker comes close on the heels of high-profile departures, including that of its former chief technology officer Mira Murati.
Altimeter Capital, Fidelity, SoftBank, and Abu Dhabi's state-backed investment firm MGX were some of the other investors who pledged money to the company.
According to OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar, the company will now be in a position to provide liquidity to employees to buy back their shares in the company.
Earlier this year, the company allowed some employees to cash out their shares at a valuation of $86 billion.
Apple which was earlier expected to take part in the funding, pulled out, probably under concerns about the imminent structural changes at the firm.
According to Reuters, funding came in the form of convertible notes with the conversion to equity hinging on a successful structural change of the company into a for-profit firm.
The company is expected to generate $3.6 billion in revenue this year on mounting losses of over $5 billion and may jump next year to $11.6 billion, according to sources.
The company's stratospheric rise comes on the back of its flagship product — ChatGPT – gaining 250 million weekly active users – all within less than two years of its advent.
OpenAI has also urged investors to refrain from pouring money into at least five AI competitors, including Elon Musk-owned xAI and Safe Superintelligence, a start-up founded by former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever.
AI search startup Perplexity and enterprise search firm Glean were also named in OpenAI's conversation with investors, Reuters reported.
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