OpenAI raises $6.6 billion in largest VC round ever
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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
OpenAI announced on Wednesday it has completed its long-anticipated funding round, raising $6.6 billion in the largest venture capital deal of all time, which values the company at $157 billion.
The intrigue: OpenAI is planning to shift to a for-profit structure and investors can ask for their money back if it hasn't completed those changes in two years, Axios has learned.
Driving the news: Joshua Kushner's Thrive Capital led the round, and was joined by Microsoft, Nvidia, SoftBank, Khosla Ventures, Altimeter Capital, Fidelity, Tiger Global and MGX.
- Not taking part, a source confirms, is Apple, which reportedly had been in talks to invest.
- OpenAI's deal tops the $6 billion raised earlier this year by Elon Musk's xAI.
The big picture: OpenAI is effectively transforming from a nonprofit lab to a product-focused company — a move that has attracted investors, but likely contributed to an exodus of many long-term employees.
- Last week, CTO Mira Murati and two top researchers announced they were leaving the company amid multiple reports of a culture clash between the product and safety teams.
- Internal debates about speed and safety have grown louder in the 10 months since the firing and rehiring of CEO Sam Altman.
- OpenAI disputes any suggestion that it is deprioritizing safety even as it moves toward a for-profit model.
What they're saying: "The new funding will allow us to double down on our leadership in frontier AI research, increase compute capacity, and continue building tools that help people solve hard problems," OpenAI said in a blog post.
The bottom line: OpenAI continues to grow its revenue, but the giant investment reflects how its costs are also rising,
Go deeper: OpenAI speeds ahead as it shifts to for-profit
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional information about the investor list.
