The world’s biggest companies can’t seem to stop giving OpenAI money.
One day after securing $6.6 billion in new funding from an array of tech giants and venture capitalists, the artificial intelligence (AI) startup revealed it had established a $4 billion credit facility with nine of the world’s largest banks.
The revolving credit facility — with JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Santander, Wells Fargo, SMBC, UBS and HSBC — will be undrawn at closing, OpenAI said on its blog Thursday (Oct. 3).
“This means we now have access to over $10 billion in liquidity, which gives us the flexibility to invest in new initiatives and operate with full agility as we scale,” the company said. “It also reaffirms our partnership with an exceptional group of financial institutions, many of whom are also OpenAI customers.”
OpenAI announced Wednesday (Oct. 2) that it had raised $6.6 billion in new funding, bringing its valuation to $157 billion, a number that places the company in the same market capitalization territory of the likes of Uber, AT&T and Goldman Sachs.
OpenAI was last valued at $86 billion early in the year after its employees sold their shares.
The new round was led by venture capital firm Thrive Capital, which invested $1.25 billion, sources told The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Longtime OpenAI partner-investor Microsoft contributed a little under $1 billion, while SoftBank invested roughly $500 million, and AI chipmaker Nvidia, which invested around $100 million, one of the sources said.
Sources also told WSJ that investors who wanted to take a look at OpenAI’s financial documents were required to kick in at least $250 million.
“The AI gold rush is in full swing as investors bet big on the transformative potential of artificial general intelligence (AGI),” PYMNTS wrote Wednesday, as two other companies — Poolside and HPC-AI Tech — announced funding rounds of their own.
The investment in OpenAI, that report added, “comes amid competition in the AI sector, with tech giants and startups vying for dominance in what many consider the next frontier of technological advancement. OpenAI’s valuation reflects growing investor confidence in AGI’s potential to revolutionize industries and create new economic opportunities.”
Examining OpenAI’s transformation from nonprofit to for-profit last week, PYMNTS argued that the pivot is reconfiguring the AI world and bringing up questions about the future of innovation for the technology, and about market competition and tech sector partnerships.
“The potential shift comes at a crucial time when AI technology is becoming integrated into consumer products and enterprise solutions,” PYMNTS wrote. “OpenAI’s new business approach will likely have significant implications for its relationships with key stakeholders, notably Apple and Microsoft, while also affecting its standing among potential rivals.”
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