OpenAI raises $40B in record funding round, hits $300B valuation in largest private tech deal

OpenAI has pulled in a massive $40 billion, closing the largest private funding round in tech history and pushing its valuation to an eye-popping $300 billion. The maker of ChatGPT confirmed the deal on Monday, marking a new high watermark for private tech investment.

The round was led by SoftBank, with Microsoft and a few other backers, including core investor Microsoft
as well as Coatue, Altimeter, and Thrive also putting skin in the game. According to PitchBook, the $40 billion haul is nearly three times larger than any previous private tech raise.

The funding is geared toward pushing OpenAI closer to its main ambition: building Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). The money will go toward scaling up AI research, beefing up compute infrastructure, and making ChatGPT even better for its 500 million weekly users.

But there’s a catch: the full $40 billion hinges on OpenAI switching to a for-profit model before the year wraps up. That shift could raise eyebrows, especially with legal pressure coming from Elon Musk and growing attention from regulators.

“The initial funding will be $10 billion, followed by the remaining $30 billion by the end of 2025, the person said. But the round comes with a caveat. SoftBank said in an updated disclosure on Monday that its total investment could be slashed to as low as $10 billion if OpenAI doesn’t restructure into a for-profit entity by Dec. 31,” CNBC reported.

OpenAI’s $300 billion valuation places it just behind SpaceX, valued at $350 billion and ties it with ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok—ranking it among the most valuable private tech firms globally, according to CB Insights.

OpenAI’s trajectory continues to draw big bets—and big questions. Whether this funding push clears all the hurdles will be something to watch closely.

The news comes three days after reports that the company was closing in on one of the largest private funding rounds ever, with ChatGPT revenue projected to triple to $12.7 billion by 2025.

The deal marks a major milestone in private fundraising and signals that investors remain bullish on OpenAI’s future—despite sky-high operating costs and lingering questions about sustainability. The company reportedly lost up to $5 billion on $3.7 billion in revenue last year, driven largely by the high cost of building and training its models.

OpenAI is forecasting a steep revenue climb: $12.7 billion in 2025 and over $125 billion by 2029, when it expects to become cash-flow positive.

That confidence is tied to scale. In February, COO Brad Lightcap revealed ChatGPT now sees over 400 million weekly active users—a 33% jump from the 300 million reported just two months earlier. Those numbers hadn’t been disclosed publicly—until now.

The new funding will also support Stargate, OpenAI’s $300 billion infrastructure project with SoftBank and Oracle, first unveiled in January. The initiative aims to massively expand U.S. compute capacity as demand for large language models continues to surge.

ChatGPT remains the top AI tool for millions—from developers and marketers to students and enterprise teams. Strong benchmark performance has helped it maintain an edge over rivals like Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and Mistral.

Its momentum has been fueled by word-of-mouth adoption and tighter integration into everyday workflows. From its launch in late 2022, ChatGPT hit one million users in five days—and hasn’t slowed down since.

OpenAI continues to roll out faster and more efficient models, including GPT-4 Turbo and GPT-4o. Its deep partnership with Microsoft is helping scale further, embedding OpenAI tech into Office, Azure, and other core products.