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OpenAI Startup Fund, OpenAI’s early-stage AI investor, recently disclosed in a financial filing that it had… He grew up More than $44 million for its fifth special purpose vehicle (SPV) – its largest to date.
Launched in 2021, the fund has an unusual structure. He uses the name OpenAI, but he says OpenAI is not an investor. Originally, it was legally controlled by Sam Altman, OpenAI’s co-founder and CEO, and it raised money from outside limited companies, including Microsoft, a large OpenAI backer, and “other OpenAI partners,” according to its website . Altman relinquished legal control to general partner Ian Hathaway earlier this year.
VC firms typically use SPACs to raise money from investors and invest outside their main fund. However, the fund remains quiet about the exact purpose of these funds.
This SPV “will be used to support a variety of existing portfolio companies and to make new investments,” an OpenAI spokesperson told TechCrunch.
“SPACs allow us to allocate capital to high-potential investments opportunistically.”
The fund, founded in 2021, has been on a real SPV streak this year, unveiling five separate instruments that now total $114.2 million:
- SPV IJanuary 2024: $10,000,000
- SPV IIApril 2024: $24,999,947 (first revealed at $15 million, later revised)
- SPV IIIMay 2024: $5,000,000 (as covered by TechCrunch)
- SPV IVJuly 2024: $29,916,411
- SPVVDecember 2024: $44,281,693
Despite the flurry of activity, its website is sparse, and the latest posts are sparse news Published a year ago. The site only discloses a few of its investments, such as a legal AI startup Harvey And the AI note-taking app Mem.
However, the fund is more active than its website indicates. Notable investments this year include Thrive Health, an AI-driven health venture between Sam Altman and Ariana Huffington, and startup Unify.
The fund is also a seed investor in Anysphere, which is currently in the middle of a venture capital bidding war thanks to AI code assistant Cursor.
These SPACs are all at the top of the fund Original capital Valued at $175.25 million, raised in October 2021.
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