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OpenAI has officially closed the largest private funding round in tech history, raising $122 billion at a post-money valuation of $852 billion.

The deal, finalized on March 31, gives the ChatGPT maker massive financial firepower as it races to scale artificial intelligence infrastructure and prepares for a potential IPO.

Originally shopped as a $110 billion round in late February, the financing was upsized by an additional $12 billion in the final stretch, reflecting overwhelming demand from both strategic giants and everyday investors.

Strategic Heavyweights Anchor The Deal

SoftBank co-led the round alongside Andreessen Horowitz, D.E. Shaw Ventures, and others.

Key commitments included:

Amazon: Up to $50 billion (with a portion tied to future milestones or IPO)
NVIDIA: $30 billion
SoftBank: $30 billion

Microsoft continued its long-standing support, while new participants brought in sovereign-linked capital and venture firms.

In a groundbreaking move, OpenAI opened part of the round to retail investors via private banks and ARK Invest ETFs, pulling in more than $3 billion from individuals, an unprecedented step for the startup.

Explosive Growth Fuels Investor Confidence

OpenAI’s latest metrics paint a picture of hyper-growth:

Revenue: Now running at $2 billion per month (roughly $24 billion annualized)
ChatGPT: 900 million weekly active users and over 50 million paid subscribers
Enterprise share: Already more than 40% of revenue, on track for parity with consumer revenue by the end of 2026

The company noted its revenue is scaling four times faster than Google and Meta did at comparable stages.

Enterprise tools, API usage (15 billion+ tokens per minute), and coding agent Codex are all seeing rapid adoption.

What The Capital Will Power

Proceeds will supercharge OpenAI’s compute buildout, next-generation model development, and talent hiring.

The company is also working toward a unified “AI superapp” that combines ChatGPT, Codex, browsing, and advanced agentic features, aiming to make AI truly ubiquitous for consumers, developers, and businesses alike.

“This funding gives us the resources to continue to lead at the scale this moment demands,” OpenAI stated in its announcement.

IPO Hype Reaches Fever Pitch

The massive round comes as Wall Street anticipates OpenAI’s public debut later in 2026 or early 2027.

The capital provides breathing room to hit profitability targets and demonstrate “public-company hygiene,” according to CFO Sarah Friar.

Analysts say the broadened investor base, including retail participants, could smooth the transition to public markets.

Valuation has skyrocketed from roughly $300 billion in early 2025 to $852 billion today, underscoring the AI sector’s white-hot momentum.

While some skeptics question the risk of a bubble amid ongoing cash burn in data centers, OpenAI’s user and revenue trajectories present compelling fundamentals.