OpenAI is finalizing $40 billion in new funding led by SoftBank at a $300 billion post-money valuation, nearly doubling its valuation since October, reported CNBC.
That would mean that OpenAI will have added more than $1.1 billion to its valuation per day since its last round closed on Oct. 2—putting past VC stars like Uber, WeWork and Stripe to shame. At the peak of its fundraising frenzy, Uber’s valuation was growing at a daily pace of $120 million.
A chunk of the $40 billion will be used by OpenAI to fund its commitment into Stargate, a newly-announced infrastructure investment in the US alongside Softbank and others, according to the CNBC report.
Meanwhile, OpenAI’s main US rival, Anthropic, is also reportedly in talks for new funding—but only at a $60 billion post-money valuation, Bloomberg reported.
OpenAI’s valuation jump is also happening as the arrival of an impressive and cheaper open-source challenger raises questions about the sustainability of these price tags. DeepSeek, which Altman called a new competitor in an X post, rattled markets recently when it launched its r1 model. It offers a similar level of sophistication at a cheaper price and requires less memory usage. Many enterprises are already trying out r1.
But some investors still expect that OpenAI’s capitalization and unique infrastruture access through Stargate will set it up as the market leader. And the company’s revenue could back up its high valuation. It predicted in September that it would hit $3.7 billion in sales for 2024, and grow to $11.6 billion by the end of 2025, according to the New York Times.
Featured image of Sam Altman by Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images
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