The co-founder and CEO of Microsoft-backed OpenAI, an artificial intelligence lab, mocked the startup funding process by tweeting that the lab raised $250 million in a series A funding round after six other rounds, CNBC reported Jan. 27.
"After our pre-friends-and-family round in 2016, our F&F round in 2017, our angel round in 2018, our pre-seed round in 2019, our seed round in 2020, and our seed extension in 2021, we’re delighted to share we’ve raised a Series A of $250 million," Sam Altman tweeted Jan. 26. "Humbled by such a strong start."
In the past, startups raised a seed round before proceeding to raise series A, B and C rounds, but many are now opting to conduct additional rounds in between. OpenAI has only completed two funding rounds, according to the report.
In 2019, Microsoft provided a $1 billion investment into OpenAI, becoming the company's exclusive provider of cloud computing services.
OpenAI was ranked as one of the top three AI labs worldwide, aiming to produce friendly AI and AI that generates wealth.