# OpenAI

> OpenAI is a San Francisco-based AI research and deployment company founded in 2015, best known for ChatGPT and the GPT model family; it develops consumer, enterprise, developer, coding, image/video, speech, and agentic AI products. OpenAI is privately held and, based on the available search results, its corporate structure, financing, and reported metrics are changing rapidly.

Company page on Leadbay: https://mad-max.leadbay.ai/company/openai.com · loaded 2026-11-03

## At a glance

- Website: https://openai.com
- Team based in: United States (golinks.io; Sources disagree: San Francisco (openai.com, a company database))
- Founded: 2015 (openai.com and 1 more)
- Founders: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Elon Musk, John Schulman, Wojciech Zaremba
- Industry: Research Services
- Employees: 11490 (employees and founders, investors not counted; openai.com and 1 more)
- Total funding: $210.1B (openai.com and 1 more)
- Backed by: Microsoft, SoftBank Group, Amazon, NVIDIA, Thrive Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Coatue Management, Altimeter Capital, Khosla Ventures, Fidelity Investments, MGX, TPG, BlackRock, Blackstone, Dragoneer Investment Group, D1 Capital Partners, Tiger Global, Spencer Peterson (General Partner)
- Seen in its site's code: Google Workspace (MX alt3.aspmx.l.google.com), HubSpot (TXT include:_spf.google.com include:spf.protection.outlook.com include:8050860.spf04.hubspot), Atlassian (TXT atlassian-domain-verification), Zoom (TXT ZOOM_verify) (read 2026-11-04)
- Email: support@openai.com

## What it sells, to whom

- OpenAI is a San Francisco-based AI research and deployment company founded in 2015, best known for ChatGPT and the GPT model family; it develops consumer, enterprise, developer, coding, image/video, speech, and agentic AI products. OpenAI is privately held and, based on the available search results, its corporate structure, financing, and reported metrics are changing rapidly. ([en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenAI), [research.contrary.com](https://research.contrary.com/company/openai), [techtarget.com](https://www.techtarget.com/news/What-is-OpenAI/834412/))

## Why it stands out

- Gartner recognized OpenAI as an Emerging Leader in its 2025 Innovation Guide for Generative AI Model Providers ([axelspringer.com](https://www.axelspringer.com/en/ax-press-release/sam-altman-receives-the-axel-springer-award-2025), [openai.com](https://openai.com/index/gartner-2025-emerging-leader/), [wash100.com](https://www.wash100.com/winners/2026/joseph-larson/))
- Sam Altman received the 2025 Axel Springer Award ([axelspringer.com](https://www.axelspringer.com/en/ax-press-release/sam-altman-receives-the-axel-springer-award-2025), [openai.com](https://openai.com/index/gartner-2025-emerging-leader/), [wash100.com](https://www.wash100.com/winners/2026/joseph-larson/))
- Yahoo Finance named OpenAI its 2025 Company of the Year ([axelspringer.com](https://www.axelspringer.com/en/ax-press-release/sam-altman-receives-the-axel-springer-award-2025), [openai.com](https://openai.com/index/gartner-2025-emerging-leader/), [wash100.com](https://www.wash100.com/winners/2026/joseph-larson/))
- OpenAI government executive Joseph Larson received a 2026 Wash100 Award ([axelspringer.com](https://www.axelspringer.com/en/ax-press-release/sam-altman-receives-the-axel-springer-award-2025), [openai.com](https://openai.com/index/gartner-2025-emerging-leader/), [wash100.com](https://www.wash100.com/winners/2026/joseph-larson/))
- Competes with: Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, Meta, xAI, Cohere, Mistral AI, Hugging Face, Stability AI, ElevenLabs ([en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenAI), [linkedin.com](https://linkedin.com/company/openai))

## Products and services

- ChatGPT, including consumer, Business, Enterprise, Edu, and government offerings ([research.contrary.com](https://research.contrary.com/company/openai), [9to5ai.tech](https://9to5ai.tech/openai-explained), [techtarget.com](https://www.techtarget.com/news/What-is-OpenAI/834412/))
- GPT model family and OpenAI API platform ([research.contrary.com](https://research.contrary.com/company/openai), [9to5ai.tech](https://9to5ai.tech/openai-explained), [techtarget.com](https://www.techtarget.com/news/What-is-OpenAI/834412/))
- Codex coding agent ([research.contrary.com](https://research.contrary.com/company/openai), [9to5ai.tech](https://9to5ai.tech/openai-explained), [techtarget.com](https://www.techtarget.com/news/What-is-OpenAI/834412/))
- DALL·E and GPT Image image-generation products ([research.contrary.com](https://research.contrary.com/company/openai), [9to5ai.tech](https://9to5ai.tech/openai-explained), [techtarget.com](https://www.techtarget.com/news/What-is-OpenAI/834412/))
- Sora video-generation product ([research.contrary.com](https://research.contrary.com/company/openai), [9to5ai.tech](https://9to5ai.tech/openai-explained), [techtarget.com](https://www.techtarget.com/news/What-is-OpenAI/834412/))
- Whisper speech-recognition/transcription technology ([research.contrary.com](https://research.contrary.com/company/openai), [9to5ai.tech](https://9to5ai.tech/openai-explained), [techtarget.com](https://www.techtarget.com/news/What-is-OpenAI/834412/))
- Deep Research and agent-oriented tools ([research.contrary.com](https://research.contrary.com/company/openai), [9to5ai.tech](https://9to5ai.tech/openai-explained), [techtarget.com](https://www.techtarget.com/news/What-is-OpenAI/834412/))
- Custom GPTs and GPT Store ([research.contrary.com](https://research.contrary.com/company/openai), [9to5ai.tech](https://9to5ai.tech/openai-explained), [techtarget.com](https://www.techtarget.com/news/What-is-OpenAI/834412/))

## Customers and markets

- **Customers**: Consumers and individual ChatGPT users, More than 1 million companies, according to OpenAI’s November 2025 announcement, Enterprise customers cited by OpenAI include Amgen, Cisco, Morgan Stanley, T-Mobile, Target, and Thermo Fisher Scientific, Government and public-sector customers, including U.S. federal agencies ([techtarget.com](https://www.techtarget.com/news/What-is-OpenAI/834412/), [openai.com](https://openai.com/index/gartner-2025-emerging-leader/), [wash100.com](https://www.wash100.com/winners/2026/joseph-larson/))
- **Markets**: Global enterprise market across 89 countries (for Ads) ([openai.com](https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-ads-expands-26-new-countries/), [ppc.land](https://ppc.land/openai-gains-2-latin-american-markets-for-chatgpt-ads-reaching-9-total/), [openai.com](https://openai.com/index/openai-for-india))
- **Markets**: India (nationwide sovereign AI initiative) ([openai.com](https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-ads-expands-26-new-countries/), [ppc.land](https://ppc.land/openai-gains-2-latin-american-markets-for-chatgpt-ads-reaching-9-total/), [openai.com](https://openai.com/index/openai-for-india))

## Team

- Shikhar Kwatra, Partner AI Deployment Engineering Lead, AMER · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/shikharkwatra)
- Nick Scala, Head of GTM Partner Strategy, Programs, and Operations · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-scala)
- Philip Larson, Sr. Director, OpenAI Partner Network (OPN) · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/philiplarson)
- Nicole Barrow, Partner Director · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolebarrow)
- Pura Gunn, Strategic Partner Programs, Partner Marketing · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/puramak)
- Sam Altman, Founder
- Greg Brockman, Founder
- Ilya Sutskever, Founder
- Elon Musk, Founder
- John Schulman, Founder
- Wojciech Zaremba, Founder
- Sarah Friar, Chief Financial Officer

Backed by: Microsoft, SoftBank Group, Amazon, NVIDIA, Thrive Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Coatue Management, Altimeter Capital, Khosla Ventures, Fidelity Investments, MGX

## Latest news

- 2025-04-17 · [What is OpenAI? | TechTarget](https://www.techtarget.com/news/What-is-OpenAI/834412/) (techtarget.com)

## Where to find more

- [This page in Markdown, for agents](https://mad-max.leadbay.ai/company/openai.com.md)

## Decision makers

- [Shikhar Kwatra](https://mad-max.leadbay.ai/person/shikhar-kwatra--openai.com.md), Partner AI Deployment Engineering Lead, AMER · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/shikharkwatra)
- [Nick Scala](https://mad-max.leadbay.ai/person/nick-scala--openai.com.md), Head of GTM Partner Strategy, Programs, and Operations · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-scala)
- [Philip Larson](https://mad-max.leadbay.ai/person/philip-larson--openai.com.md), Sr. Director, OpenAI Partner Network (OPN) · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/philiplarson)
- [Nicole Barrow](https://mad-max.leadbay.ai/person/nicole-barrow--openai.com.md), Partner Director · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolebarrow)
- [Pura Gunn](https://mad-max.leadbay.ai/person/pura-gunn--openai.com.md), Strategic Partner Programs, Partner Marketing · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/puramak)
- [Sam Altman](https://mad-max.leadbay.ai/person/sam-altman--openai.com.md), Founder
- [Greg Brockman](https://mad-max.leadbay.ai/person/greg-brockman--openai.com.md), Founder
- [Ilya Sutskever](https://mad-max.leadbay.ai/person/ilya-sutskever--openai.com.md), Founder
- [Elon Musk](https://mad-max.leadbay.ai/person/elon-musk--openai.com.md), Founder
- [John Schulman](https://mad-max.leadbay.ai/person/john-schulman--openai.com.md), Founder

Work emails and direct phones come with a Leadbay account: https://wow.leadbay.ai/?register=true

Where it comes from: 27 sites read (openai.com, chat.openai.com, forum.openai.com, en.wikipedia.org, research.contrary.com, techtarget.com, jobs.a16z.com, 9to5ai.tech, …).

## Best angle

2026-08-10 · Product: We’re expanding our cybersecurity initiative Daybreak, and introducing GPT-5.6-Cyber, a new model for advanced, authorized cybersecurity work. (1 source)

## Best way in

- LinkedIn message to Shikhar Kwatra: Partner AI Deployment Engineering Lead, AMER · profile linked from the company's record
- LinkedIn message to Nick Scala: Head of GTM Partner Strategy, Programs, and Operations · profile linked from the company's record

## Signals: what happened

- 2026-11-03 · Headcount: Headcount up 33% in a year (1 source: [A company database](https://openai.com/))
- 2026-10-28 · News: GPT-6.1 Terra on max effort beats Claude Opus 5.5 on high effort at controlling real robots, at a slightly lower cost.

We ran OpenAI's new model on our benchmark: (1 source: [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jeqcho_gpt-61-terra-on-max-effort-beats-claude-activity-7521035440166993921-Zqim))
- 2026-10-20 · News: #ainativeprocurement #chatgpt #chatgptwork #enterpriseai #procurement #openaiprocurement (1 source: [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ann-fleishell-aa8342_ainativeprocurement-chatgpt-chatgptwork-activity-7518357711701348352-r0Nv))
- 2026-10-04 · Interviews: OpenAI’s Head of ChatGPT: We’r... (2 sources: [podcasts.apple.com](https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/openais-head-of-chatgpt-were-entering-a-new-era/id1627920305?i=1000793099277&l=nl), [youtube.com](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXCfs7mitPo))
- 2026-10-02 · News: Post by OpenAI for Business (1 source: [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/openai-for-business_activity-7511787011905789952-9L1a))
- 2026-10-01 · Fundraising: The OpenAI Foundation announced $50 million in grants for 163 U.S. nonprofits through its People-First AI Fund (4 sources: [openai.com](https://openai.com/index/scaling-ai-for-everyone/), [edtechinnovationhub.com](https://www.edtechinnovationhub.com/news/openai-foundation-awards-50m-to-163-nonprofits-exploring-ai-in-local-communities), [wash100.com](https://www.wash100.com/winners/2026/joseph-larson/))
- 2026-09-03 · News: GPT-6 Astra Revolutionizes Computer Use and AI (1 source: [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/openai_this-gpt-6-astra-activity-7501364499304579072-dm6F))
- 2026-08-22 · News: As we continue to push the frontier of capabilities while improving efficiency, we're dropping API and credit pricing of GPT-5.6 Sol by over 20% for the next 3 months.

Now available on the API and… | OpenAI (1 source: [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/openai_as-we-continue-to-push-the-frontier-of-capabilities-activity-7496732435708039168-UfDA))
- 2026-08-10 · Product: We’re expanding our cybersecurity initiative Daybreak, and introducing GPT-5.6-Cyber, a new model for advanced, authorized cybersecurity work. (1 source: [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/openai_expanding-daybreak-access-activity-7492627840937512960-bXgx))
- 2026-08-06 · News: We’re making better intelligence easier to access in ChatGPT for everyone: (1 source: [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/openai_expanding-access-to-gpt-56-for-free-users-activity-7491202676404334592-lQVt))
- 2026-08-03 · Interviews: The OpenAI Podcast (1 source: [youtube.com](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOXw6I10VTv9GAOCZjUAAkSVyW2cDXs4u))
- 2026-08-01 · Fundraising: Secondary market · $7B (1 source: [A company database](https://openai.com/))

## Working on now

- Expanding ChatGPT Ads to 89 countries worldwide
- Integrating Oracle apps and data into ChatGPT
- Scaling ServiceNow workflow integrations with OpenAI models and agents
- Deploying frontier models and agentic workflows to Google Cloud's Model Garden
- Building sovereign AI infrastructure in India via Tata Group partnership
- Expanding ChatGPT for small business programs and resources

From: [ChatGPT Ads expands to 26 new countries as over 100,000 advertisers have used the platform | OpenAI](https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-ads-expands-26-new-countries/), [OpenAI expands partnership with Oracle to bring its apps to ChatGPT | OpenAI](https://openai.com/index/oracle-apps-in-chatgpt/), [OpenAI and ServiceNow expand partnership across enterprise workflows | OpenAI](https://openai.com/index/openai-servicenow-partnership-expansion), [OpenAI models are coming to Google Cloud | OpenAI](https://openai.com/index/openai-models-google-cloud), [Introducing OpenAI for India | OpenAI](https://openai.com/index/openai-for-india), [Introducing the ChatGPT for small business program | OpenAI](https://openai.com/index/introducing-chatgpt-small-business-program/)

## Summary

OpenAI is a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence company that develops generative models, including the GPT series, ChatGPT, and the Codex coding agent [1][2]. It functions as a public benefit corporation controlled by a nonprofit foundation [3]. OpenAI generates revenue through ChatGPT subscriptions, business and enterprise plans, and usage-based API fees [2][3]. Its customers include individual consumers, software developers, and enterprises across sectors like finance and media, as well as government entities including the U.S. Department of Defense [2][4]. Founded in 2015 by Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Ilya Sutskever, Greg Brockman, and others, the company is backed by major investors including Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank [1][5][3]. Key competitors include Anthropic, Google (DeepMind), and other AI research labs [5][2]. Recent developments include the September 2026 release of the GPT-6 Astra model and the Agents API [5][6][3]. Additionally, reports indicate OpenAI plans to purchase AI chips from Google [5].

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenAI "OpenAI"
[2]: https://resources.rework.com/libraries/ai-terms/what-is-openai "'What is OpenAI?'"
[3]: https://9to5ai.tech/openai-explained "OpenAI Explained: Who Controls It and How It Makes Money"
[4]: https://www.techtarget.com/news/What-is-OpenAI/834412/ "What is OpenAI? | TechTarget"
[5]: https://www.theinformation.com/topics/openai "OpenAI Company News & Analysis — The Information"
[6]: https://stockanalysis.com/private/openai/ "OpenAI Stock Price, Valuation & News"
[7]: https://research.contrary.com/company/openai "Report: OpenAI Business Breakdown & Founding Story | Contrary Research"
[8]: https://www.cbinsights.com/company/openai "OpenAI - Products, Competitors, Financials, Employees, Headquarters Locations"

## Sources

- [OpenAI's website](https://openai.com)
- [Company record, via Exa](https://openai.com/)
- [ChatGPT Ads expands to 26 new countries as over 100,000 advertisers have used the platform | OpenAI](https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-ads-expands-26-new-countries/)
- [OpenAI expands partnership with Oracle to bring its apps to ChatGPT | OpenAI](https://openai.com/index/oracle-apps-in-chatgpt/)
- [OpenAI and ServiceNow expand partnership across enterprise workflows | OpenAI](https://openai.com/index/openai-servicenow-partnership-expansion)
- [OpenAI models are coming to Google Cloud | OpenAI](https://openai.com/index/openai-models-google-cloud)
- [Introducing OpenAI for India | OpenAI](https://openai.com/index/openai-for-india)
- [Introducing the ChatGPT for small business program | OpenAI](https://openai.com/index/introducing-chatgpt-small-business-program/)
- [OpenAI | Andreessen Horowitz](https://jobs.a16z.com/company/openai)