In Brief
OpenAI has raised $175 million for its startup fund.
This is 75% higher than the $100 million the company previously said it had raised for the fund.
Company representatives told prospective investors that OpenAI plans to launch a second fund.
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OpenAI has raised $175 million for its startup fund, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The filing also revealed that 14 partners have invested in the fund launched in 2021. The newly revealed amount is 75% higher than the $100 million the company previously said it had raised for the fund. Apart from Microsoft, the fund was joined by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Redpoint Ventures, and Spark Capital.
Announcing the startup fund in 2021, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that the fund planned to make big, early bets on no more than ten companies.
According to a blog post published in December 2022, the fund has been created to invest in a small number of early-stage startups that are “pushing the boundaries of how powerful AI can positively impact the world and profoundly change people’s lives.”
Descript, Harvey AI, Mem, and Speak are the first four investment recipients of the startup fund. Last year, OpenAI Startup Fund led AI-powered video editor Descript’s $50 million series C funding round as well as note-taking app Mem’s $23 million round.
Other than the aforementioned recipients, the startup fund also led Oslo-based humanoid robotics company 1X’s $23.5 million Series A round in March and made a small investment of $250,000 in Charles AI. In addition to capital, companies in the OpenAI startup fund will gain early access to future OpenAI systems, support from the fund’s team, and Microsoft Azure credits.
According to Crunchbase, OpenAI has raised a total of $11.3 billion to date. In April, the company closed a $300 million share sale at a valuation of $27 billion to $29 billion. As per The Information, company representatives told prospective investors that OpenAI plans to launch a second fund, according to two sources close to the matter.
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