Gimlet's Three-Tranche Deal Reveals AI Funding Frenzy

Gimlet Labs said late last week it had raised $300 million at a valuation of about $3 billion, in a round led by new investor Andreessen Horowitz. Today we have unreported details on how that round, which boosted its valuation by a whopping 16 times from its last PitchBook valuation, came together.

The three-year-old startup, which helps AI developers run models using different AI chips simultaneously, raised the round after the company’s executives told some potential investors that based on signed contracts, OpenAI was likely to spend more than $100 million a year on its services, according to a person familiar with the company. Such outlays, if they transpire, would be significant given it just emerged from stealth in October. 

This windfall would be in the future, however. “We have explored possibilities with Gimlet but we are not a paying customer,” said an OpenAI spokesperson.