OpenAI has finalized a deal to receive US$6.6 billion in new funding from investors who valued the company at US$157 billion — the latest in a series of dramatic and sometimes polarizing moves for the ChatGPT maker, the Washington Post reported.
The funding anoints the artificial intelligence company as one of the most highly valued start-ups of all time, suggesting its backers expect OpenAI’s chatbot to become much more widely used and to haul in huge profits.
Yet the new financing comes on the heels of the surprise resignation of OpenAI’s chief technology officer, Mira Murati, who had led work on the company’s products, the latest in a string of executive departures from a company that has struggled with internal tensions over safety and the leadership of chief executive Sam Altman.
MGX, an Abu Dhabi Technology Investment Vehicle with Mubadala and G42 as Founding Partners, participated in the OpenAI multi-billion dollar funding round.
MGX was targeting some of the world’s biggest scale global technology investments after last September’s announcement that the fund would join BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and Microsoft, in a Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership to invest up to US$100 billion in AI data centres and supporting energy infrastructure.
The funding has attracted returning venture capital investors including Thrive Capital and Khosla Ventures, plus Microsoft, and a new participation from NVIDIA.
Reuters reported that OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar told employees on Wednesday that the company will be able to provide liquidity for them through a tender offer to buy back their shares in the company following the funding. Earlier this year, the company allowed some employees to cash out their shares at a valuation of US$86 billion.
