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OpenAI Secures Record $40B Funding at $300B Valuation

Approximately $18 billion of the funding has been allocated for OpenAI’s commitment to Stargate, a joint project between SoftBank, OpenAI, and Oracle.

Written By: Allison Francis

Apr 3, 2025

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OpenAI has announced that it secured $40 billion in fresh funding. This massive investment values the company at an eye-popping $300 billion.

According to CNBC, this financing round is the largest private funding round ever in the tech industry.

Japanese investment holding company SoftBank is leading a massive funding round with a $30 billion investment, backed by several prominent supporters including Microsoft (a key existing investor), as well as Coatue, Altimeter, and Thrive.

“OpenAI has very ambitious plans on many fronts and needs a lot of capital to achieve these goals,” D.A. Davidson & Co analyst Gil Luria said. “The list of investors wanting to support that scope has shrunk and may be largely limited to SoftBank, which itself may not have the necessary capital.”

OpenAI said the fundraising enables them to “push the frontiers of AI research even further, scale our compute infrastructure, and deliver increasingly powerful tools for the 500 million people who use ChatGPT every week.”

Stargate project and funding rollout

Approximately $18 billion of the funding has been allocated for OpenAI’s commitment to Stargate, a joint project between SoftBank, OpenAI, and Oracle that was introduced in January.

The funding will be distributed in phases, starting with an initial $10 billion, followed by the remaining $30 billion before the end of 2025. However, one important condition is attached to the deal. SoftBank revealed in an updated disclosure on Monday that its total investment could decrease to as little as $20 billion if OpenAI does not convert to a for-profit structure by December 31st.

Pressure mounts for corporate restructuring

The stipulation intensifies the pressure on OpenAI to finalize its transition to a for-profit entity, a step that necessitates approval from both Microsoft and the California attorney general. This plan has already encountered legal challenges from Elon Musk, who helped establish OpenAI as a nonprofit research laboratory in 2015.

OpenAI’s current setup is unusual in the business world. It has two main parts:

The original nonprofit organization (created in 2015, which controls the company
A “capped-profit” business section (added in 2019) that can make money but with limits on profits

If the restructuring plan goes through, the nonprofit would break off to become a separate entity. Meanwhile, the investors who’ve put money into OpenAI don’t actually own pieces of the company yet—they have special IOUs (called “convertible notes”) that would turn into actual ownership shares after the company fully becomes a for-profit business.

Look back on key milestones and advancements in generative AI for 2024, highlighting innovations and trends that will continue to shape the future of artificial intelligence.

Allison Francis

Allison is a contributing writer for Channel Insider, specializing in news for IT service providers. She has crafted diverse marketing, public relations, and online content for top B2B and B2C organizations through various roles. Allison has extensive experience with small to midsized B2B and channel companies, focusing on brand-building, content and education strategy, and community engagement. With over a decade in the industry, she brings deep insights and expertise to her work. In her personal life, Allison enjoys hiking, photography, and traveling to the far-flung places of the world.

OpenAI Secures Record $40B Funding at $300B Valuation

Stargate project and funding rollout

Pressure mounts for corporate restructuring

Allison Francis

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