A while back, I joined the website Republic (think crowdfunding platform for Pre-IPO companies and other private investments) and hadn't really done much with it. Today, they notified me there was a potential opportunity to invest in OpenAI at a 330B valuation - representing the 300B recent valuation from the Softbank deal, plus 10% off the top to make the investment via a second layer-SPV. At this point, nothing is finalized, just had to confirm my interest and how much I would be willing to invest if everything finalizes.

What are things to watch out for here? Specifically, if anyone has experience with Republic or similar services. More looking for watchouts with the process vs OpenAI specifically. I get the risk with the company itself, and will continue to evaluate those at this valulation.

The money I would need to invest is money I am willing and able to lose if the company I invest in goes south. However, it is more than I am willing to lose by doing something stupid in the actual mechanism by which I invest.

Still haven't figured out how it works to invest in a non profit.

I'd rather own Anthropic or xAI.

Republic (used to be nextseed) is garbage, they will not act on your behalf if the company screws you

Why would you invest in a non-profit?

Are you expecting them to be able to nefariously convert their open source non-profit to a closed source for-profit? Do you really want to be a part of that?

Well, as recently as yesterday morning, there was talk of converting OpenAI to a public benefits corporation, and the deal was only going to occur if that happened. It does appear yesterday afternoon they came out and said they would stay non-profit, so this specific deal is off the table.

You should be working with an RIA who can get you access to these kinds of deals and not have to go through the secondary market where you'll pay a premium price to get it.