OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the 2026 Infrastructure Summit of government officials, corporate executives and labor leaders on March 11, 2026 in Washington, DC, US.
Kylie Cooper | reuters
OpenAI announced on Tuesday that it has closed a record-breaking funding round at a post-money valuation of $852 billion.
The round had total committed capital of $122 billion, which is higher than the $110 billion figure announced by the company in February. softbank OpenAI said it co-led the round with other investors including Andreessen Horowitz and DE Shaw Ventures.
OpenAI ushered in the artificial intelligence boom with the launch of its ChatGPT chatbot in 2022, and the company has since become one of the fastest-growing commercial entities on the planet. As of March, ChatGPT supports over 900 million weekly active users, including over 50 million subscribers.
“AI is increasing productivity, accelerating scientific discovery, and expanding what people and organizations can create,” OpenAI said in a release. “This funding provides us with the resources to continue leading at the scale this time demands.”
With its latest funding round closing, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will be under pressure to justify his company’s hefty valuation, especially as it prepares for a potential IPO. The startup has been scaling back some heavy spending plans in recent months and shutting down some features and products, including its short-form video app Sora, as it looks to rein in costs.
OpenAI said Tuesday it was generating $2 billion in revenue per month. Last year it made revenues of $13.1 billion. The company is still wasting cash and is still not profitable.
In February, OpenAI disclosed commitments of $110 billion from some of its strategic investors, marking the beginning of its funding round. Amazon Agreed to invest up to $50 billion in startups, NVIDIA invested $30 billion, and SoftBank invested $30 billion.
The additional $12 billion of capital raised by OpenAI came from a broader group of investors. OpenAI said it increased investor participation through bank channels for the first time and raised $3 billion from individual investors.
MicrosoftOpenAI, one of OpenAI’s longtime partners, also participated, but OpenAI did not disclose the size of the company’s investment in its Tuesday release. By the end of last year, Microsoft had invested more than $13 billion in startups.
“Moments like this don’t come around often,” OpenAI said. “The capital being deployed today is helping build the infrastructure for intelligence. Over time, that value will flow back into the economy, into companies, into communities, and increasingly into individuals.”
— CNBC’s Mackenzie Siglos contributed to this report.
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