Overview
- ARK Invest included OpenAI in its ARKK, ARKW, and ARKF funds at about 3% each, giving ETF holders indirect pre-IPO exposure that investors expect could precede a listing later this year.
- The funds trade in regular brokerage accounts with no minimums, which lowers the bar for retail investors compared with private marketplaces that often require accreditation.
- OpenAI’s latest funding round put its valuation near $852 billion and included about $3 billion sold to individual investors through clients of three large banks.
- OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said the company has about 900 million users, with free users averaging seven daily interactions and paying users often topping 20.
- Friar warned that scarce computing power now acts as a revenue bottleneck, because without data center capacity and chips the company cannot meet demand.