Evanston, Illinois-based hedge fund Magnetar Capital could contribute as much as $1 billion, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The people requested anonymity because the information is confidential. Representatives for OpenAI, Magnetar and FoundersFund declined to comment on the current funding round. Coatue and Altimeter did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
OpenAI's funding round will be its largest ever, according to data compiled by research firm PitchBook. The deal would value the ChatGPT publisher at $300 billion, including capital raised, nearly double the $157 billion it was valued at when it conducted its last funding round in October.
As part of the deal, SoftBank will invest an initial $7.5 billion in the company, with an additional $2.5 billion from an investment consortium, one of the people said. A second $30 billion in funding will come later this year, including $22.5 billion from SoftBank and $7.5 billion from a consortium, the person said.
SoftBank declined to comment. The Japanese conglomerate has poured billions of dollars into the Stargate Project, an Abilene, Texas-based joint venture with partners including OpenAI, Oracle Corp. and MGX.