Historic funding round values OpenAI at $157 billion

OpenAI has completed a deal to raise $6.6 billion in new funding, giving the artificial intelligence company a $157 billion valuation and bolstering its efforts to build the world's leading generative AI technology.

The funding round was led by Thrive Capital, the venture capital firm headed up by Josh Kushner, which put in $1.3 billion. Microsoft Corp., OpenAI's largest backer, put in about $750 million, on top of the $13 billion it had already invested in the startup, according to a person familiar with the matter. Other investors included Khosla Ventures, Fidelity Management & Research Co. and Nvidia Corp., the chipmaker whose powerful processors are at the center of the AI boom. Microsoft declined to comment.

The deal is one of the largest-ever private investments, and makes OpenAI one of the three largest venture-backed startups, alongside Elon Musk's SpaceX and TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd. The size of the investment underscores the tech industry's belief in the power of AI and its appetite for the extremely costly research powering its advancement.