OpenAI

Written by Edoardo Zarghetta

Updated in June, 2025

 

Founded in 2015 (Source: Company founding announcement, Dec 2015), OpenAI is headquartered in San Francisco and employs approximately ~400 people as of 2022 (Source: Company disclosure, Dec 2022). OpenAI operates at the center of frontier AI research, generative AI, and advanced model alignment — priority sectors within America 2030.

What is Open AI?

OpenAI’s mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI), defined as highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work, benefits all of humanity.
(Source: OpenAI AGI Mission Statement, June 2023)

The company is the creator of ChatGPT, a conversational AI system capable of answering questions, handling instructions, rejecting harmful requests, and supporting multimodal tasks.
(Source: ChatGPT Technical Report, Nov 2023)

OpenAI develops advanced frontier models — GPT-4, GPT-4o, GPT-5, multimodal agents — and licenses infrastructure through API and enterprise partnerships.
(Source: API Product Release Notes, 2024–2025)

Is Open AI Publicly Traded?

No.
OpenAI remains a private company. Its shares trade only through private secondary markets or via primary fundraising allocations.
(Source: Company statement, Mar 2025)

OpenAI achieved $10B in annualized revenue by June 2025, up from $3.7B in 2024.
(Source: Internal financials shared with investors, June 2025)

Revenue comes from:

• ChatGPT consumer subscriptions

• Enterprise deployments

• API services

• Model licensing to partners (Microsoft licensing excluded from reported revenue)
  (Source: Investor Update, June 2025)

OpenAI Valuation and Financials

Revenue

• 2024: $3.7B
  (Source: Financial disclosure to investors, Oct 2024)

• 2025E: $12–13B
  (Source: Internal revenue forecast, May 2025)

Valuation

OpenAI’s valuation rose significantly due to its frontier-model leadership:

• $157B valuation — Oct 2024
  (Source: PitchBook, Oct 2024)

• $300B valuation — Mar 2025 following a historic $40B raise
  (Source: Reuters, Mar 2025)

• $500B valuation — Aug 2025 after updated investor pricing
  (Source: Bloomberg Private Markets, Aug 2025)

This places OpenAI among the world’s most valuable private companies, alongside SpaceX and ByteDance.
(Source: Bloomberg Private Markets Ranking, Aug 2025)

Most Recent Financing Status

In March 2025, OpenAI completed the largest private technology funding round in history:

• $40B raised at a $300B valuation
  (Source: Reuters, Mar 2025)

• Led by SoftBank with a $30B commitment
  (Source: Financial Times, Mar 2025)

• Additional investors: Microsoft, Coatue, Thrive Capital, Altimeter
  (Source: WSJ, Apr 2025)

Funding is released in phases:

• $10B initial tranche

• Remaining $30B released through Q4 2025
  (Source: SoftBank transaction schedule, Apr 2025)

Q3 2025 Funding Round — $500B Valuation

In August 2025, OpenAI completed an additional funding round that lifted its private valuation to $500 billion, marking a near-doubling from its March valuation and placing it among the three highest-valued private companies globally, alongside SpaceX and ByteDance.

This update reflects a $20–25B structured investment package led by a syndicate of global technology investors, including sovereign wealth funds and late-stage crossover funds.
(Source: Bloomberg Private Markets, Aug 2025; Reuters, Aug 2025)

The Q3 raise is driven by:

• Accelerating enterprise adoption

• Revenue inflection toward $12–13B in 2025

• Growing strategic demand for frontier-model infrastructure

• Anticipation of a governance restructuring prior to a potential future IPO

This round is expected to be the final private raise before OpenAI transitions from its capped-profit structure toward a fully conventional for-profit entity — a condition linked to SoftBank’s 2025 investment commitments.

Who owns Open AI?

OpenAI has a hybrid nonprofit–for-profit structure:

Parent Entity: OpenAI, Inc. (Nonprofit)

Controls mission, governance, and capped-profit parameters.
(Source: OpenAI Governance Charter, 2023)

Operating Entity: OpenAI Global, LLC (Capped-Profit)

Handles commercial operations and model deployment.
(Source: Operating Agreement Update, 2024)

Manager Entity: OpenAI GP, LLC

Governs all for-profit activities under nonprofit oversight.
(Source: Governance Filing, 2023)

Key Investors

• Microsoft — >$13B since 2019, no voting control
  (Source: Microsoft SEC filings, 2023–2025)

• SoftBank — $30B commitment, Mar 2025
  (Source: Reuters, Mar 2025)

• Thrive Capital, Coatue, Altimeter — major 2024–2025 investors
  (Source: VC funding disclosures, 2024–2025)Elon Musk Open AI

Elon Musk and OpenAI

Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015, serving as co-chair and donating $44M between 2016–2020.
(Source: OpenAI Form 990 archive, 2020)

Conflict Timeline

• 2018: Musk proposes taking control to accelerate progress
  (Source: Reuters investigation, Feb 2024)

• Proposal rejected by Altman and founders

• Musk leaves the board in Feb 2018

• Musk withdraws a planned major donation, creating funding shortfalls
  (Source: Altman public comments, 2023)

The relationship deteriorated further via lawsuits and public disputes.
(Source: WSJ Legal Coverage, 2024–2025)

How to Invest in OpenAI

OpenAI is a private company, with shares not available on public exchanges.

IPO CLUB provides access for accredited investors through:

• America 2030 Fund (OpenAI is in the pipeline)

• Single-Name SPVs
  (Source: IPO CLUB internal allocation framework, May 2025)

Request access → https://www.ipo.club/accredited

Open AI Stock Symbol

No stock symbol

• No public market price
  (Source: Company statement, June 2025)

Only private secondary market pricing exists, typically from:

• early shareholders

• employees

• institutional allocations

OpenAI User Base & Market Performance

OpenAI has more than 500 million weekly active users across ChatGPT and integrated applications.
(Source: Company usage report, Apr 2025)

Explosive enterprise adoption drives revenue growth, though infrastructure costs continue to rise due to frontier-model training.
(Source: Internal expense analysis, Feb 2025)

OpenAI Status as of Mid-2025

OpenAI is defined by:

• Rapid revenue growth (2024–2025)

• Massive infrastructure spend (~$28B projected 2025 expenses)
  (Source: Internal cost forecast, 2025)

• Significant cumulative losses (~$14B expected by 2026)
  (Source: Financial projections, 2025)

• Requirement to transition to a standard for-profit structure by end-2025
  (Source: SoftBank term sheet, Mar 2025)

Market leadership remains strong, but governance, cost scaling, and competitive pressure from xAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind carry material risks.
(Source: Analyst comparison, May 2025)

Is ChatGPT Free?

OpenAI offers a free tier (GPT-4o mini / GPT-3.5), with limits on usage and speed.
(Source: OpenAI pricing page, 2025)

Paid plans:

• Plus ($20/mo) — advanced models, priority access

• Pro ($200/mo) — unlimited access to frontier models

• Team & Enterprise — starting at $25–$30/user/month
  (Source: Pricing update, Jan 2025)

Open AI Latest News

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Sources (Consolidated List)

Financials & Valuation

• PitchBook — OpenAI Private Valuation (Oct 2024)

• Reuters — $40B Round at $300B Valuation (Mar 2025)

• Bloomberg — $500B Updated Valuation (Aug 2025)

• Internal OpenAI Revenue & Cost Forecasts (2024–2025)

• FT — SoftBank Commitment Breakdown (Mar 2025)

Company Information

• OpenAI Founding Announcement (Dec 2015)

• OpenAI Governance Charter (2023)

• OpenAI Form 990s (2016–2020 archives)

• Company Press Releases (2023–2025)

Product & Technical

• ChatGPT Technical Report (Nov 2023)

• API Release Notes (2024–2025)

• LLM Usage Reports (2025)

Contracts & Investors

• Microsoft SEC filings (2023–2025)

• VC investor disclosures (2024–2025)

Media & Investigations

• CNBC — Sam Altman Interviews (2023–2025)

• Reuters — Governance & Funding Investigations (2024–2025)

• WSJ — OpenAI Legal Coverage (2024–2025)

Internal

• IPO CLUB / America 2030 — Allocation Framework (May 2025)