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openai issued a statement on wednesday saying that it had completed a new round of financing of us$6.6 billion, bringing the valuation of the artificial intelligence company to us$157 billion. this is also the largest venture capital round in history.

according to bloomberg news, this round of financing was led by thrive capital, a venture capital firm led by josh kushner, and other global investors also participated, including microsoft, nvidia, softbank group, khosla ventures, altimeter capital, coatue management, fidelity management & research company, mgx, a new technology investment company headquartered in abu dhabi, and ark investment company under the name of "wooden sister" cathie wood will also invest at least us$250 million in openai.

valuation doubled in one year and ranked among the top three in the world

openai told investors that the company is still actively pursuing the goal of artificial general intelligence (agi), which is to develop ai systems that surpass human intelligence, while accelerating commercialization and working towards profitability. analysts believe that after this round of investment, openai is expected to continue to strengthen its efforts to build the world's leading generative ai technology. the company statement said:

"this new funding will allow us to double down on our focus on cutting-edge artificial intelligence research, increase computing power, and continue building tools that help people solve difficult problems. we thank our investors for their trust in us and look forward to working with our partners, developers, and the broader community works together to build an ai-driven ecosystem and future that benefits everyone.”

although apple had previously been in talks with openai to participate in this funding round, it ultimately did not participate. according to media reports, apple has a partnership with openai to integrate chatgpt into its devices and provide services through its siri voice assistant. as part of the collaboration, apple discussed gaining an observer seat on openai's board of directors, but those plans were ultimately shelved, according to people familiar with the matter.

the deal also doubles openai's valuation in less than a year, placing it among the world's top three startups, along with elon musk's spacex and tiktok parent company beat. the size of this investment round reflects the tech industry’s confidence in the potential of artificial intelligence and strong demand for the extremely expensive research that will drive its development, people familiar with the matter told the media.

the massive funding round comes after a tumultuous year for openai. in november, the company's board fired but then quickly rehired its ceo, sam altman. over the next few months, the company restructured its board of directors, hired hundreds of new employees, but also lost several key leaders, including ilya sutskever and chief technology officer mira murati.

the financing is in the form of a convertible note and is dependent on the company successfully completing structural changes to transform into a for-profit company no longer controlled by a nonprofit board of directors while removing caps on investor returns. analysts believe the shift will appease the company's backers but could create legal hurdles. as part of the transition, openai has discussed granting altman an equity stake in the company that could be worth more than $10 billion, although openai's board of directors said it has not yet discussed a specific number. people familiar with the matter also revealed to the media that after this round of financing, openai will allow its employees to sell shares.

sources also told the outlet that investors have negotiated terms that would give them the right to claw back capital or renegotiate valuations if the changes are not implemented within two years.

chatgpt, a chatbot launched by openai in 2022, has now accumulated 250 million weekly active users. its paid service chatgpt plus has 11 million subscribers, and its business-oriented service has 1 million users. the company's revenue this year is expected to reach $3.6 billion, but it has lost more than $5 billion. revenue is expected to grow significantly to $11.6 billion next year.

ask investors not to support competitors

in recent years, a number of new companies have emerged to compete with openai, including some founded by former openai employees, such as anthropic and safe superintelligence. openai also faces stiff competition from large, resource-rich tech companies like google and amazon, which are also developing their own ai models.

musk's xai raised more than $6 billion earlier this year, but at a valuation far lower than openai's ($24 billion post-money valuation). openai's main rival, anthropic, has raised less than half of openai's total funding since its founding ($9.7 billion), while high-profile ai companies cohere and mistral's funding reserves hover around $1 billion.

the financial times reported on wednesday that openai urged investors not to support rival companies such as musk's xai and anthropic in order to maintain its leading position in the field of generative artificial intelligence. the report quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that openai hopes to reach an exclusive agreement with investors to prevent competitors from obtaining strategic cooperation opportunities and capital support.

analysts believe that this move by openai may intensify tensions with competitors, especially musk, who is suing openai. musk co-founded and funded openai in 2015 but left after three years. musk filed a lawsuit in august, which seeks to make microsoft the agreement is invalid.

venture capital firms often have access to sensitive information about the companies they invest in, and a close relationship with one company may make it difficult or inappropriate to support a competitor at the same time. however, requests for exclusive investment are uncommon, according to venture capitalists. many leading companies make multiple investments in certain areas, such as sequoia capital and a16z, which have both supported openai and invested in musk's xai.