OpenAI
AI research and deployment company building frontier models and products such as ChatGPT, the OpenAI API, Sora, and Codex.
Who is building this.
Sam AltmanCo-founder & CEOSam Altman is the co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, the San Francisco-based AI research and deployment company behind ChatGPT, the OpenAI API, Sora, Codex, and frontier AI model families. Before OpenAI, he co-founded Loopt, joined Y Combinator as a partner, and served as YC president from 2014 to 2019. He is also a prominent startup investor, with publicly reported stakes in companies including Reddit, Stripe, and Helion Energy.
Greg BrockmanCo-founder & PresidentGreg Brockman is the co-founder and President of OpenAI, where he has helped build the company’s technical organization, research infrastructure, and product strategy. Before co-founding OpenAI, he was CTO at Stripe, joining the payments company early and helping scale its engineering team. Brockman is known for hands-on technical leadership across frontier AI systems, developer infrastructure, and applied research.
Ilya SutskeverCo-founder & Chief ScientistIlya Sutskever is an AI researcher and entrepreneur best known as a co-founder and former Chief Scientist of OpenAI. A University of Toronto PhD advised by Geoffrey Hinton, he helped advance deep learning through influential work on neural networks, sequence-to-sequence learning, and large-scale AI systems. Before OpenAI, he was a research scientist at Google Brain after Google acquired DNNResearch, the startup he co-founded with Hinton and Alex Krizhevsky. In 2024, after leaving OpenAI, Sutskever co-founded Safe Superintelligence Inc., an AI lab focused on building safe superintelligence.
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Cumulative raised across 9 rounds, totaling $221B.
Fundraising history.
Strategic investment — $1B
Jul 2019Microsoft announced a $1 billion investment and Azure supercomputing partnership with OpenAI.
Led by Microsoft
Source ↗Strategic investment
Jan 2023OpenAI announced a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar expansion of its Microsoft partnership; exact amount was not disclosed in the official announcement.
Led by Microsoft
Source ↗Growth — $6.6B
Oct 2024$157B post-money
OpenAI closed a $6.6 billion financing at a $157 billion valuation, with participation reported from Microsoft, Nvidia, Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures, SoftBank, and others.
Led by Thrive Capital · with Microsoft, Nvidia, Khosla Ventures, SoftBank
Source ↗Growth — $40B
Mar 2025$300B post-money
SoftBank announced an agreement to invest up to $40 billion in OpenAI Global at a $260 billion pre-money valuation, implying a $300 billion post-money valuation if fully funded.
Led by SoftBank Group · with Co-investors / syndicate
Source ↗Launch nonprofit funding commitment — $1B
Dec 2015Nonprofit launch funding commitment from donors; not a priced equity round.
Led by Sam Altman, Elon Musk · with Greg Brockman, Reid Hoffman, Jessica Livingston, Peter Thiel +3
Source ↗Strategic Investment
2021Undisclosed Microsoft follow-on investment referenced in the 2023 OpenAI/Microsoft extension announcement.
Led by Microsoft
Source ↗Share Sale — $300M
Apr 2023VC share sale/tender offer reported at just over $300M and a $27B–$29B valuation range.
Led by Thrive Capital, Founders Fund · with Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, K2 Global
Source ↗Revolving Credit Facility — $4B
Oct 2024Undrawn revolving credit facility established alongside the October 2024 funding round.
Investors: JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley +5
Source ↗Growth — $41B
Dec 2025$300B post-money
SoftBank-led financing announced as $40B at $300B post-money; SoftBank later said the fully funded final aggregate commitment was $41B including co-investors.
Led by SoftBank Group · with Microsoft, Coatue Management, Altimeter Capital, Thrive Capital
Source ↗Growth — $122B
Mar 2026$852B post-money
Closed $122B funding round at an $852B post-money valuation with strategic and financial investors.
Led by Amazon, NVIDIA, SoftBank Group, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), D. E. Shaw Ventures, MGX, TPG, T. Rowe Price Associates · with Microsoft, Altimeter Capital, Appaloosa LP, ARK Invest +17
Source ↗Revolving Credit Facility Expansion — $4.7B
Mar 2026Expanded existing revolving credit facility to approximately $4.7B; OpenAI said it remained undrawn at close.
Investors: JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley +7
Source ↗
Invested in OpenAI.
Elon MuskInvested in OpenAIElon Musk is an entrepreneur and company builder best known for leading SpaceX and Tesla and for co-founding Neuralink, OpenAI, The Boring Company, Zip2, and X.com. At Neuralink, he helped launch a neurotechnology company focused on implantable brain-computer interfaces intended to restore autonomy for people with severe neurological impairments. Musk’s broader work spans electric vehicles, reusable rockets, artificial intelligence, infrastructure, payments, and consumer internet platforms.MicrosoftLead investorStrategic investment, Growth, Strategic Investment participant
Thrive CapitalLead investorGrowth, Share Sale participant
AI research and deployment company building frontier models and products such as ChatGPT, the OpenAI API, Sora, and Codex.
OpenAI develops and deploys advanced AI models, infrastructure, and products for consumers, developers, and enterprises. Founded in December 2015 as an AI research company, OpenAI has evolved into one of the leading frontier AI labs, offering ChatGPT, developer APIs, business products, and model families used for reasoning, coding, image generation, voice, and other AI applications. The company has raised substantial strategic capital from Microsoft, Thrive Capital, SoftBank, and other investors to support large-scale AI research, compute infrastructure, and product deployment.