Amid Ghibli image hype, OpenAI secures $40bn funding led by SoftBank, doubling valuation to $300bn—All you need to know | Company Business News

Sam Altman, founder-CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, on April 1 announced that the platform saw a record 1 million users in an hour — all thanks to its Ghibli-style image generation feature. Now, thanks to the user engagement, the artificial intelligence (AI) tech company has said that it has secured $40 billion from investors, in a funding round led by Softbank Group, to double valuation to $300 billion, according to a Bloomberg report.

“Hundreds of millions people use ChatGPT each week. This investment helps us push the frontier and make AI more useful in everyday life,” Sam Altman said in a statement on March 31.

The report cited Pitchbook, to say that this is the largest such financing round of all-time and almost doubles OpenAI’s valuation from $157 billion since its October 2024 fundraise, to $300 billion this year.

SoftBank, which is leading the deal, will initially invest $7.5 billion in the company along with $2.5 billion from an investor syndicate, according to a person familiar with the agreement. Additional investors in the group include Microsoft Corp., Coatue Management, Altimeter Capital Management, and Thrive Capital, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing private details. There will be a second tranche of $30 billion invested by the end of 2025, including $22.5 billion from SoftBank and $7.5 billion from a syndicate, this person said.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)