OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has raised $8.3 billion at a $300 billion value.  The agreement is a component of OpenAI’s larger plan to raise $40 billion this year.

According to the NYT, the oversubscribed round was months ahead of schedule.

When OpenAI revealed in March that it planned to raise $40 billion in a round led by Softbank, it first received $2.5 billion from venture capital companies.

As investors scramble to join its cap table amid stellar growth, the AI behemoth beat itself to the punch, having planned to take on an extra $7.5 billion by the end of the year.

According to The Information, OpenAI topped 700 million weekly active users of ChatGPT and achieved $12 billion in annualized revenue last week.

According to the Times today, the figure is more like $13 billion, and by the end of the year, it is expected to reach $20 billion.

The Trump administration’s AI Action Plan and discussions with Microsoft are further tailwinds that might assist the firm in achieving its objective of turning into a legitimate for-profit business.

An obscure investor, Dragoneer Investment Group, led the round with a shocking $2.8 billion check, according to The Times.

Mutual fund manager T. Rowe Price and private equity behemoths Blackstone and TPG were among the many new investors that took part in the round.

Founders Fund, Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global, Thrive Capital, Altimeter Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue Management, D1 Capital Partners, and Fidelity Management are among the other partners.

According to reports, several of OpenAI’s original investors were disappointed by the reduced stakes they received in the round, as the AI giant gave priority on acquiring new strategic backers.