Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank is set to invest $500mn into OpenAI, a move that will be part of a fundraising round expected to conclude this week. This investment will value the artificial intelligence start-up at an impressive $150bn. SoftBank’s contribution will come from its second Vision Fund, which primarily consists of Son’s personal wealth. Other investors in the funding round include venture fund Thrive Capital and Microsoft, with a total of $6.5bn expected to be raised.
SoftBank was known for its active investments in start-ups leading up to 2022 when the valuations of young tech companies reached unsustainable levels. Notably, SoftBank invested around $14bn into WeWork, which ultimately collapsed from a peak valuation of $47bn in 2019. However, after a period of retrenchment, SoftBank has shifted its focus towards AI investments and aims to capitalize on this emerging technology.
As the majority owner of UK chip designer Arm, SoftBank sees it as a crucial component within its network of companies advancing AI technologies. Meanwhile, OpenAI is finalizing details for one of the largest private funding rounds ever amidst internal changes and departures within the company.
Despite these challenges, investors remain optimistic about OpenAI’s potential and are willing to commit funds as they believe it can outperform competitors like Google and Meta while fending off competition from other start-ups such as Anthropic and Mistral.
The participation of SoftBank in this funding round was first reported by The Information; however, both SoftBank and OpenAI declined to comment on the matter.
