OpenAI soon in the top of the most valued start-ups? The Californian company, creator of the generative artificial intelligence ChatGPT, would be in talks to raise new funds, thus valuing it at least 100 billion dollars (91 billion euros), Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing sources close to the case.
The conditions, valuation and schedule of this financing round have not yet been finalized and could still change, indicates the American press agency. She also specifies that the investors potentially involved in this fundraising have asked to remain anonymous.
If the financing round goes as planned, OpenAI, which Sam Altman is still at the helm after a series of twists and turns last month, would become the second most valuable start-up in the United States, behind SpaceX , led by Elon Musk ($180 billion), according to data from CBInsights. It would position itself third in the world, with the Chinese ByteDance (TikTok) being number one ($225 billion).
100 billion dollars would be at least 10 billion more than the valuation that OpenAI should reach at the beginning of January. The start-up should in fact finalize at that time a separate public tender offer, led by Thrive Capital, which would allow its employees to sell shares, for a valuation of 86 billion dollars, according to Bloomberg. $100 billion would be three times the valuation of OpenAI last February.
The generative AI software launched a year ago by OpenAI, ChatGPT, a conversational agent capable of answering all types of questions, fueled the dizzying rise in the valuation of the start-up, based in San Francisco. And increased his fame. Microsoft has invested more than $10 billion in the start-up to date. The IT giant now owns 49% of OpenAI shares, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
