Sources told The Wall Street Journal this week that OpenAI is discussing raising a new round of funding at a staggering valuation of over $100 billion. Investors have already shown interest in valuing the company that high in order to be part of OpenAI’s exclusive group of investors. Multiple companies that specialize in secondary deals, where investors buy shares from existing investors, have witnessed investors paying prices that suggest a valuation exceeding $100 billion.
According to reports, Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital is expected to lead the new funding round by investing $1 billion, with rumored participation from Microsoft, Nvidia, and Apple. This would mark a significant increase for OpenAI, which was valued at $86 billion in a previous secondary sale in September.
Rainmaker Securities has observed investors bidding on OpenAI stock at prices reaching up to $143 billion. Caplight, a platform tracking secondary data, estimates the current value of the company to be over $111 billion based on recent activity and previous financing rounds.
Co-founder and managing partner of Rainmaker Securities, Glen Anderson, mentioned that many investors are eager to be part of OpenAI’s success story, making a $100 billion valuation potentially attractive. Co-founder and managing director Greg Martin noted that while OpenAI is still spending a lot of money, their revenue has seen significant growth from zero to billions. The company is projected to reach $2 billion in annual recurring revenue by the end of the year.
Martin also anticipates that the funding round for OpenAI will drive secondary activity in the AI industry and boost the valuations of competing companies like Anthropic, Cohere, and Hugging Face.
Overall, this funding round for OpenAI is expected to create excitement, generate buzz, and impact market expectations, according to Martin.
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