(Bloomberg) — OpenAI is in talks to raise $6.5 billion from investors at a valuation of $150 billion, according to people familiar with the situation.
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The new valuation, a figure that doesn’t include the money being raised, is significantly higher than the $86 billion valuation from the company’s tender offer earlier this year, and cements its place as one of the most valuable startups in the world.
At the same time, OpenAI is also in talks to raise $5 billion in debt from banks in the form of a revolving credit facility, said one of the people, all of whom asked not to be identified discussing private information.
The startup did not comment on the funding talks. The people familiar with the deal noted that the discussions are still ongoing and the numbers could change.
The funding round is slated to be led by Thrive Capital, Bloomberg previously reported. Microsoft Corp., the company’s largest investor, is also set to participate, and Apple Inc. and Nvidia Corp., have been in talks about investing.
Founded in 2015, OpenAI has been at the center of the technology industry’s rapid shift toward AI, kicking off an investing frenzy with the 2022 debut of its easy-to-use chatbot, ChatGPT. The company’s products, which can generate realistic images and human-sounding text from just a few words of prompting, have captured the attention of both consumers and investors.
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