OpenAI is in ‘early discussions’ to raise funding at a US $100B valuation

Bloomberg has reported that OpenAI “is in early discussions to raise a fresh round of funding at a valuation at or above US$100 billion”. In that report by Bloomberg, it is reported that “Investors potentially involved in the fundraising round have been included in preliminary discussions, according to the people, who asked not to be identified to discuss private matters. Details like the terms, valuation, and timing of the funding round have not yet been finalized and could still change. The San Francisco, California-based company is set to complete a separate tender offer in early January, which would allow employees to sell their shares at a valuation of US$86 billion, Bloomberg previously reported. That is being led by Thrive Capital and saw more demand from investors than there was availability, people familiar with the matter have said”.

In the report, it is also mentioned that “OpenAI has also held discussions to raise funding for a new chip venture with Abu Dhabi-based G42, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The start-up has discussed raising between US$8 billion and US$10 billion from G42, said one of the people, all of whom requested anonymity to discuss confidential information. It is unclear whether OpenAI’s semiconductor venture and wider company funding efforts are related”.

While OpenAI has declined to comment on this report, it is worth noting that this will make OpenAI the most valuable AI company right now and the second-most valuable startup in the US after Elon Musk’s SpaceX. It is also worth noting that this all could have gone to trash if the OpenAI board, which fired the CEO Sam Altman, would have been allowed to do what it wanted to. It was after the intervention of Microsoft that OpenAI’s CEO was returned to his position and soon after, the entire OpenAI board was fired as is the case with every company. One OpenAI rival that is backed by the likes of Amazon and Google is called Anthropic and this company is being touted to compete with OpenAI in the long term but its valuation is not known right now.