OpenAI, not yet public, raises $3B from retail investors in monster $122B fund raise | TechCrunch

OpenAI has closed a deal to raise $122 billion at an $852 billion valuation, its largest funding round to date as the company is expected to hit the public markets this year. The round will add to OpenAI’s war chest as it spends enormous amounts of money on AI chips, data center buildouts, and hiring top talent. SoftBank co-led the round alongside Andreessen Horowitz, D.E. Shaw Ventures, MGX, TPG, and T. Rowe Price Associates, with participation from Amazon, Nvidia, and Microsoft. About $3 billion came from individual investors via bank channels. OpenAI is also going to be included in several ETFs managed by ARK Invest, giving more people access to the private company’s stock to broaden its shareholder base in advance of its reportedly upcoming IPO. OpenAI also said it expanded its revolving credit facility to about $4.7 billion, supported by several of the top global banks. The facility remains undrawn, the company said, which suggests it’s bolstering its financial flexibility as it ramps spending on compute and infrastructure, rather than responding to near-term liquidity needs. The company’s press release on the raise reads less like a typical blog post than a draft of an S-1; it’s heavy on the flywheel metaphors, digs into revenue per compute unit, and offers the kind of TAM-justifying language that institutional investors drool over. OpenAI included updates on revenue and user numbers, claiming it’s generating $2 billion in revenue per month and taking a shot at compe...