OpenAI Valuation Hits 121 Trillion Won... Triples Since the Beginning of the Year

ByteDance·SpaceX Followed by the World's 3rd Highest Valued Unicorn

OpenAI, which developed 'ChatGPT' and is leading the global artificial intelligence (AI) industry, has begun raising funds based on a corporate valuation of up to $90 billion (approximately 121.5 trillion KRW).

On the 26th (local time), The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that OpenAI is currently valued at around $80 billion to $90 billion (approximately 108.28 trillion to 121.5 trillion KRW) in its recent funding round. This is more than three times the $29 billion valuation it received when Microsoft (MS) invested earlier this January, just nine months ago.

WSJ stated that if OpenAI is recognized with a valuation exceeding $80 billion, it would become the third highest-valued unicorn startup worldwide, following ByteDance (valued at $225 billion), the parent company of TikTok, and Elon Musk’s SpaceX (valued at $150 billion).

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

OpenAI is pursuing fundraising through issuing new shares and selling stocks held by employees, based on a corporate valuation of up to $90 billion. WSJ reported that to minimize dilution of existing shareholder value, OpenAI is expected to focus on selling existing shares rather than issuing new ones. WSJ forecasts that the amount of funds raised through this process could reach hundreds of millions of dollars.

The funds raised from this investment round are planned to be used for technology development and operational expenses. A source stated, "Although the investment round related to fundraising has started, detailed plans such as the scale and method of existing share sales and corporate valuation may change."

With OpenAI’s valuation soaring, Microsoft is also expected to earn significant profits. MS made its first $1 billion investment in OpenAI in 2019 and secured a 49% stake by investing an additional $10 billion this January.

Previously, OpenAI attracted large-scale investments from leading Silicon Valley venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Khosla Ventures. Recently, there were reports that Masayoshi Son, chairman of Japan’s SoftBank, is seeking cooperation with OpenAI.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has publicly stated that there are no plans for an initial public offering (IPO) or selling OpenAI to recover funds. It is also reported that MS plans to maintain its OpenAI stake below 50%.

Founded in 2015, OpenAI sparked a global generative AI craze by unveiling its large language model (LLM) and ChatGPT at the end of last year. Although it began generating revenue with the launch of ChatGPT on November 30 last year, there are concerns about the urgent need to improve profitability due to the enormous costs involved in running data centers to train AI.

According to U.S. IT media The Information, OpenAI posted $28 million (approximately 3.79 billion KRW) in revenue last year. However, its net loss reached $540 million, about 19 times its revenue. To improve profitability, OpenAI plans to aggressively target the enterprise AI market with offerings such as 'ChatGPT Enterprise,' launched last month.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.