Openai Seeks new and existing capital from investors. The fundraising effort is a part of a $400 billion round announced in march. According to a source who is familiar with the fundraising effort, the round will reopen Monday, July 28.
OpenAI’s valuation jumped to $300 billion after the $40 billion round announced in January . It is now one of the highest valued private startups ever. SoftBank, a Japanese investment conglomerate, led the round and committed to contribute 75 percent of total funding. The initial tranche of $10 billion was made up of $7.5 billion from SoftBank, and $2.5 billion by a syndicate consisting of other investors. OpenAI is raising the final $30 Billion, with $22.5 Billion from SoftBank and $7.50 Billion from a syndicate. WIRED confirmed that SoftBank’s commitment could be reduced
to $10 billion, if OpenAI fails to restructure before the end of the calendar year. PitchBook reports that OpenAI has raised $63.92 billion in total since its founding in 2015. Microsoft, Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital are among its institutional and individual backers. Other investors include Nvidia, Coatue Management and Reid Hoffman. Microsoft and OpenAI have a close relationship. Microsoft provides OpenAI with massive cloud computing resources, and OpenAI gives Microsoft exclusive access its best models. OpenAI, among other partners, has partnered with SoftBank on a four year AI data center project that is expected to invest upwards of 500 billion dollars. The Wall Street Journal reported this week the two entities were at odds over some aspects of the partnership. This included where to build data centers. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was making moves to sign contracts for Stargate data centers without the Japanese company.
SoftBank and OpenAI made a joint statement with WIRED in which they said that Stargate’s $500 billion commitment for 10GW of new computing capacity across the United States was no longer a dream, but a reality. We are moving quickly to assess the sites and reimagine how data centers can be designed to power advanced AI, and make its benefits accessible. We are moving with hyperscale and speed, as projects in multiple states have already advanced. This will enable us to deliver the AI infrastructure needed to power the future and serve humanity.” OpenAI’s for-profit arm was created after Musk left the board of directors in early 2018. This was done to make it easier to raise funds. Musk sued OpenAI last year for allegedly abandoning the company’s original mission. He claimed that the company was “not only developing but refining an AGI for Microsoft, instead of for the benefit for humanity.” This new nonprofit would own shares in the PBC. The PBC would, in theory, be designed to prioritize shareholder returns while also pursuing clear public benefits. SoftBank’s investment into OpenAI is conditional on the new structure being approved in California and Delaware by the attorneys general by early next year.
Additional Reporting by Kylie Robison, Zoe Schiffer.
Updated 7/22/25 at 3:10pm Eastern Standard Time: This story was updated to include an OpenAI and SoftBank joint statement.
