OpenAI closes $122 billion funding round at $852 billion valuation, the largest private fundraise in history

OpenAI closed a $122 billion funding round on March 31, 2026, at a post-money valuation of $852 billion — the largest private capital raise in history. The round was co-led by SoftBank and Andreessen Horowitz and included participation from Amazon, NVIDIA, and Microsoft, extending OpenAI's infrastructure and enterprise partnerships into its capital structure. For the first time, OpenAI also extended participation to individual retail investors, raising $3 billion through bank channels.

What's new

Key details of the March 31, 2026 close:

• Total raised: $122 billion
• Valuation: $852 billion post-money
• Co-leads: SoftBank and Andreessen Horowitz
• Other participants: Amazon, NVIDIA, Microsoft, D.E. Shaw Ventures, MGX, TPG, T. Rowe Price Associates
• Retail tranche: $3 billion from individual investors via bank channels — OpenAI's first retail raise
• Credit facility: $4.7 billion revolving credit facility (undrawn at close)

Use of proceeds: Capital will support AI chip procurement, data center construction, and talent acquisition.

Company metrics at close:

• $2 billion in monthly revenue
• 900 million weekly active users in consumer AI
• Over 50 million paid subscribers
• $100 million or more in annual recurring revenue from an ad pilot running fewer than six weeks

OpenAI's stated revenue growth rate: "At this stage, we are growing revenue four times faster than the companies who defined the Internet and mobile eras, including Alphabet and Meta."

Context

The $122 billion figure exceeds all prior private technology fundraises. For comparison, prior record holders — Saudi Aramco's pre-IPO raise and large SoftBank Vision Fund tranches — were in the $10–15 billion range. The round comes roughly 18 months after OpenAI's $6.6 billion raise in late 2024.

SoftBank's co-lead continues a deepening relationship that includes the Stargate project, a joint AI infrastructure initiative with SoftBank, Oracle, and the US government. Amazon's investment comes alongside its $4 billion commitment to Anthropic — consistent with a strategy of staking relationships across multiple frontier labs. NVIDIA's participation turns its largest chip customer into a financial stakeholder, aligning NVIDIA's business more tightly with OpenAI's continued scaling.

The retail tranche via bank channels previews what an IPO distribution might look like. OpenAI has since filed a confidential S-1 with the SEC, and building a retail investor base ahead of a public offering warms the distribution channel.

Why it matters

The raise resolves, at least temporarily, a central question about OpenAI's financial position: whether its extraordinary compute costs and operating losses were sustainably funded. The combination of $2 billion in monthly revenue and $122 billion in capital gives OpenAI runway to continue scaling frontier models, infrastructure, and product.

The $852 billion valuation places OpenAI in the company of the most valuable companies in history at the private stage — on par with the public market caps of TSMC and Berkshire Hathaway. For the AI industry more broadly, the size of the round signals that institutional capital continues to treat AI as the defining technology investment of the decade, even as unit economics questions, regulatory exposure, and long-term productivity claims remain contested.

The retail tranche is also a governance signal. By extending participation to individual investors before the IPO, OpenAI broadens the constituency with a direct financial stake in its continued operation — and that constituency will have opinions when IPO timing and structure are eventually decided.