OpenAI Is Planning to Raise $6.5 Billion. This Could Make It as Big as Disney and Uber

There’s been a lot of talk lately about OpenAI’s upcoming investment round. The company, a leading figure in artificial intelligence, aims to expand even further and achieve colossal growth.

A big investment round. According to Bloomberg, OpenAI is planning to raise a massive $6.5 billion from various investors, a truly remarkable figure for this type of operation. If successful, this would result in a staggering valuation for the company.

$150 billion. If the investment round is successful, experts estimate that OpenAI’s valuation could soar to $150 billion. This figure nearly doubles its current valuation of $85 billion and, if confirmed, would position OpenAI as one of the largest companies in the world.

As big as Disney and Uber. OpenAI’s projected new valuation would put it on par with major companies like The Walt Disney Company, Uber, Comcast, and Goldman Sachs in terms of market capitalization.

OpenAI is seeking additional funds. As part of the deal, the AI company is allegedly negotiating to raise an additional $5 billion. According to an unnamed source cited in the Bloomberg report, it plans to obtain this through a revolving credit facility, which means it would take on debt from banks. In any case, this injection of funds is necessary to cover OpenAI’s substantial operating costs and to continue offering and improving its services for the foreseeable future.

A common approach. This type of credit line has been popular among large tech companies such as Facebook, Alibaba, and Uber in the past. Companies typically reward banks that provide these credit lines by giving them advantages in future public share offerings. For banks, this is a way to acquire shares at attractive prices if OpenAI goes public in the future.

Big Tech companies are involved. Data suggests that venture capital firm Thrive Capital will lead the round of funding. Moreover, it’s likely that three tech giants will also participate. Apple and Nvidia could join Microsoft, which already made a multibillion-dollar investment in 2023, in the round.

Eyes on Strawberry. Meanwhile, OpenAI is getting ready for the upcoming launch of Strawberry, the new OpenAI model capable of reasoning with the aim of reducing errors. If the company manages to outpace its rivals in this area, it’ll have a crucial new element to maintain its leading role in this segment. There are also advancements in GPT-4o and promising demos for the iPhone and iPad, which have yet to reach users but experts expect them to be particularly appealing and useful.

Image | Andrew Neel (via Unsplash) / Village Global (via Flickr)

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