TLDR
- OpenAI has raised $40 billion in funding at a $300 billion valuation, marking the largest private tech funding round ever
- Japanese conglomerate SoftBank led the round with a $30 billion investment
- ChatGPT now has 500 million weekly users, adding 2 million users in just 5 days
- The funding will support AI research, compute infrastructure expansion, and the Stargate Project
- SoftBank’s investment includes a provision requiring OpenAI to restructure as a for-profit entity by December 31
OpenAI announced on Monday that it has closed a massive $40 billion funding round. This deal marks the largest private tech funding round in history. The AI company is now valued at $300 billion, making it one of the most valuable private companies in the world.
Japanese conglomerate SoftBank led the funding round with a $30 billion investment. Other investors included Microsoft, Coatue, Altimeter, and Thrive. The funding will help OpenAI continue its rapid growth in the artificial intelligence sector.
This valuation places OpenAI just behind Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is valued at $350 billion. It ties with ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, among the world’s most valuable private companies.
User Growth and Platform Expansion
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared that ChatGPT now has 500 million weekly users. This represents a jump from the 400 million users reported last month. In a post on X, Altman noted that the platform added two million users in just five days.
the chatgpt launch 26 months ago was one of the craziest viral moments i'd ever seen, and we added one million users in five days.
we added one million users in the last hour.
— Sam Altman (@sama) March 31, 2025
The spike in usage follows a major upgrade to ChatGPT’s image-generation capabilities. The new features proved so popular that Altman asked users to slow down their usage. He claimed the high demand was “melting OpenAI’s GPUs.”
The company expects its revenue to triple to $12.7 billion by the end of 2025. This growth comes as the generative AI market is poised to exceed $1 trillion in revenue within the next decade.
it's super fun seeing people love images in chatgpt.
but our GPUs are melting.
we are going to temporarily introduce some rate limits while we work on making it more efficient. hopefully won't be long!
chatgpt free tier will get 3 generations per day soon.
— Sam Altman (@sama) March 27, 2025
Future Plans and Investments
OpenAI plans to use the fresh capital to “push the frontiers of AI research even further” and scale its computing infrastructure. About $18 billion of the funding is expected to go toward the company’s commitment to the Stargate Project.
The Stargate Project is a $500 billion initiative announced in January 2025. It’s a joint venture between SoftBank, OpenAI, and Oracle to build AI data centers across the United States over the next four years.
OpenAI also plans to release its first “open-weight” language model since GPT-2. CEO Sam Altman announced the company will launch a new model with reasoning capabilities in the coming months.
Company Structure Challenges
SoftBank’s investment comes with an important condition. The Japanese firm stated that its total investment could be reduced to as low as $20 billion if OpenAI doesn’t restructure into a for-profit entity by December 31.
This provision increases pressure on OpenAI to change its current hybrid structure. The company would need approval from Microsoft and the California Attorney General to make this change.
Elon Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015, has challenged this plan in court. OpenAI began as a non-profit research lab before creating a capped-profit limited partnership in 2019.
The current structure has the original nonprofit as the controlling shareholder. If restructured, this would be spun out as an independent entity. Current venture backers have received convertible notes that would turn into equity.
Leadership Changes
OpenAI recently announced key changes in its leadership team. CEO Sam Altman will shift his focus away from day-to-day operations. He will concentrate more on research and product development.
Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap’s role will expand. He will now oversee “business and day-to-day operations” for the company. These changes come as OpenAI prepares for its next phase of growth.
Mark Klein, CEO of SuRo Capital and an investor in OpenAI, has hinted at a possible IPO. He told investors on his firm’s earnings call that OpenAI was among the next wave of expected IPOs in his portfolio.
This funding round comes as competition in the AI sector heats up. OpenAI’s rival xAI recently acquired the X social media platform. X is owned by Elon Musk, who has been a vocal critic of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Companies from Google and Amazon to Anthropic and Perplexity are racing to announce new products. The race to build “AI agents” is becoming more intense as these companies compete for market share.
OpenAI praised SoftBank in its announcement, calling the firm a leader in scaling transformative technologies. SoftBank is led by Masayoshi Son, a well-known tech investor.
“Their support will help us continue building AI systems that drive scientific discovery, enable personalized education, enhance human creativity, and pave the way toward AGI that benefits all of humanity,” OpenAI stated in its blog post.
The previous record for a private funding round was Ant Group’s $14 billion raise in 2018. After that came Juul Labs’ $12.8 billion in 2018 and DiDi Global’s $10.8 billion in 2019. OpenAI’s own $10 billion round in 2023 was among the largest before this new record.
This funding announcement came the same day that CoreWeave, the first pure-play AI company to go public, struggled in its market debut. After reducing its IPO price, CoreWeave’s stock was unchanged on its first trading day and fell more than 7% on Monday.
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