ChatGPT saw a record 1 million users in an hour due to its Ghibli-style image generation feature, which created a hype in the market, announced Sam Altman, founder-CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAI. After a massive user engagement, OpenAI has said that it has secured a funding of $40 billion. Moreover, Softbank Group led this funding round, doubling the company’s valuation to $300 billion.
“Hundreds of millions of people use ChatGPT each week. This investment helps us push the frontier and make AI more useful in everyday life,” said Sam Altman, in a statement.
A Bloomberg report cited Pitchbook as saying that this is the largest such financing round of all-time and almost doubles OpenAI’s valuation from $157 billion since its October 2024 fundraise.
Notably, OpenAI has just launched a game-changing feature – native image generation – to ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Team users globally on March 26. Moreover, the feature is now available for free to users as of April 1. The exciting part is that this feature can transform any photo into a stunning Studio Ghibli-style image. This left the users amazed.
Ghibli Hype: Who Is Investing In OpenAI?
According to the Bloomberg report, Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank is leading the funding round with an initial investment of $7.5 billion. Furthermore, this is supplemented by an additional $2.5 billion funding from a syndicate of investors.
Others who participated in this funding round includes: Microsoft Corporation, Coatue Management, Altimeter Capital Management, and Thrive Capital, the Bloomberg report quoted a source.
According to the report, OpenAI will receive a second investment of $30 billion by the end of 2025. Moreover, SoftBank will contribute $22.5 billion and a syndicate of investors will be adding another $7.5 billion funding.
ALSO READ: SME IPO Boom: 163 Of 242 Public Issues In FY 2024-25 Were Small Firms – More Details Inside
