How Much Did openai Raise? Funding & Key Investors

Date August 9, 2025
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openai

COMPANY INFO

OpenAI, Inc. is an American artificial intelligence company founded in December 2015 by Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Ilya Sutskever, Greg Brockman, Trevor Blackwell, Vicki Cheung, Andrej Karpathy, Durk Kingma, John Schulman, Pamela Vagata, and Wojciech Zaremba. The company has over 2,000 employees as of 2024, is headquartered in San Francisco, California, operates in the artificial intelligence industry, and its website is openai.com. OpenAI develops advanced AI technologies, including the GPT family of large language models and DALL-E, aiming to create safe and beneficial artificial general intelligence that outperforms humans in most economically valuable work.

How Much Did OpenAI, Inc. Raise? Funding & Rounds and Investors

OpenAI, Inc. is a leading American artificial intelligence company founded in 2015 by visionaries including Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Ilya Sutskever, and Greg Brockman. Headquartered in San Francisco, OpenAI operates in the artificial intelligence sector, where it develops and scales cutting-edge AI technologies like the GPT family of large language models and DALL-E. The company’s mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.

OpenAI, Inc. has seen a remarkable funding journey, raising a total of $57.9 billion across 11 funding rounds as of March 2025. The company’s funding strategy has evolved from initial grants and philanthropic support to multi-billion dollar venture capital investments and debt financing. Key milestones include transformative rounds that have propelled research capabilities, market expansion, and major valuation increases. Notably, strategic relationships with cornerstone investors such as Microsoft and SoftBank Group have defined OpenAI’s trajectory, underscoring the company’s focus on scaling infrastructure, advancing research, and driving global AI adoption.

Funding Rounds

Series F - $40B - March 31, 2025

This Series F round was dedicated to pushing the frontiers of AI research and scaling OpenAI’s compute infrastructure, including significant investments in projects like the Stargate supercomputing initiative.

Series E - Undisclosed - November 22, 2024

An additional Series E round supporting ongoing development, technology scaling, and global outreach.

Conventional Debt - $4B - October 7, 2024

Debt financing raised to support infrastructure expansion and operational growth.

Series E - $6.6B - October 2, 2024

A major Series E round fueling expansion and increasing OpenAI’s valuation to $157 billion.

Series E - Undisclosed - April 12, 2024

Additional capital injection to support advancing development, funded by ARK Investment Management.

Series E - $5M - January 24, 2024

Further funding to sustain ongoing development and product innovation.

Series E - $300M - April 28, 2023

Used to accelerate growth and scale OpenAI’s innovative AI products.

Series E - $10B - January 23, 2023

Strategic round with Microsoft for market expansion and scaling core AI capabilities.

Series D - $1B - July 22, 2019

Focused on scaling AI research and developing new products and platforms.

Grant (prize money) - $1B - December 2015

Early grant funding from leading philanthropists and technology pioneers for foundational research and development.

Seed - $120K - 2016

Seed funding allowed for OpenAI’s initial launch and set the stage for early development.

Key Investors

SoftBank Group

A prominent international conglomerate, SoftBank Group has participated in major funding rounds, playing a key strategic role in OpenAI’s growth and global expansion.

Microsoft

Microsoft is a cornerstone OpenAI investor, leading significant funding rounds and forming deep technology partnerships to integrate AI advancements into commercial products.

Coatue

Coatue, a global technology investment manager, supported OpenAI’s growth initiatives and played a role in recent high-profile funding rounds.

Thrive Capital

Thrive Capital is a venture capital firm that has been instrumental in OpenAI’s Series E and F funding, enhancing market reach and product development.

Altimeter Capital

A growth-stage investment firm, Altimeter Capital has consistently backed OpenAI during major rounds, contributing essential venture capital and strategic direction.

MGX

MGX is among the leading firms that have invested in multiple late-stage rounds, aiding in OpenAI’s scaling efforts.

CoreNest

CoreNest participated in later-stage funding, further supporting OpenAI’s financial stability and operational growth.

Wells Fargo, UBS, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Santander, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, HSBC, Goldman Sachs, Citi

These leading global financial institutions provided debt financing, enabling OpenAI to expand its infrastructure and scale operations.

Reid Hoffman, Jessica Livingston, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Amazon Web Services, Infosys, YC Research

Some of the earliest supporters, these individuals and organizations provided crucial seed and grant funding, helping launch OpenAI’s ambitious mission.

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